HARIPUR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi has said that investors are shying away from investing in the province because of a surge in terrorism. However, he said efforts were afoot to build a soft image of the province so that new job opportunities could be created through an enhanced level of investment.

He said this while speaking at a ceremony organised in his honour by the entrepreneurs of Hattar Industrial Estate here on Tuesday evening.

Listing the obstacles in the way of required industrial development, the governor said inconsistent tax policies and costly energy were responsible for the “stuck up” industry-based progress.

He, however, lauded the role of industrialists in their efforts to strengthen the economic base of the country, and expressed his resolve to provide facilities to Hattar’s industrialists on a par with Faisalabad and Lahore. “I will advocate for your rights at every forum as the country’s economic progress is linked with industrial development”, the governor said. He promised to take up their problems, especially a hospital and vocational training centre, with federal minister for industries Chaudhry Salik Hussain.

The governor lamented that over 1,000 labour quarters were lying unused in Peshawar as there was nobody interested in using them. He regretted that these quarters were built in an area where they were not needed.

Mr Kundi also pointed the sorry state of the agriculture sector and added that the farmers also equally deserved the attention because their role in the country’s economic prosperity was important.

The industrialists said they played a critical role in not only creating hundreds of thousands of jobs but also earning the country precious foreign exchange.

Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2025