PESHAWAR, Oct 12: The NWFP government has proposed to Islamabad to announce incentives besides taking several other measures to give the provincial construction sector a shot in the arm, official sources told Dawn here on Thursday.

The sources in the planning, environment and development department, NWFP, told this correspondent that the provincial government had recommended to the federal authorities concerned major investment in infrastructure development and introduction of an amnesty scheme for all those from the private sector making investments in the construction sector.

Besides, the federal government had also been asked to cut tax on the construction sector in an attempt to encourage investment in the building sector.

The provincial government, said the sources, wanted to streamline, activate and reorient the construction sector to give it a boost.

Improvement and revitalization of the construction sector, said the sources, had been targeted for the multiplier effect it entailed by generating multi-sectoral economic activities.

In this respect, some 23 major industries and over a hundred minor industries have been identified which would benefit from the revitalization of the sector.

“The provincial government,” said a senior officer “wants to bring this vital sector from its current state of dormancy for it would not only boost a large number of major and minor industries, it would help generate job opportunities for a large number of skilled and unskilled labourers.”

The sources said the provincial government was working on developing the construction sector on sound footing for which it had been made part of the under-preparation multi-sectoral industrial development strategy.