PESHAWAR, July 22: The NWFP government’s plan to establish an industrial-cum-economic zone near North Waziristan to boost trade with Afghanistan via Ghulam Khan border post awaits approval from the federal government, according to official sources.

Though the federal government had agreed to partly finance the project worth Rs530 million, procedural complications had delayed execution of the project, which was a part of the NWFP government’s annual development programme for the last financial year, said the official sources.

Of the total cost of the project, the NWFP government would raise Rs282 million while the remaining Rs248 million would come from the federal government, after approval from the Central Development Working Party (CDWP).

Official circles said that the Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) had cleared the scheme last year after which it was forwarded to the CDWP for approval.

When contacted, NWFP Minister for Industries and Commerce Malik Zafar Azam told Dawn: “We expect the CDWP would grant approval to the project in its upcoming meeting, and the construction work would begin shortly afterwards.”

He expressed the hope that the project would be completed within the estimated time i.e. by the end of financial year 2007-08.

A Peshawar-based official of the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) said that the federal government had agreed to finance the project in view of its capability to boost trade with Afghanistan and lower poverty in Bannu district and the adjacent Waziristan region through creation of jobs.

He said because of the proposed zone’s proximity with Kabul and Central Asian Republics (CARs), it had great prospects.

One can reach Kabul earlier by taking the road from Ghulam Khan border town of North Waziristan than by taking the Torkham-Khyber Agency road, the current trade route between Pakistan and Afghanistan from the Fata side, he added.

The proposed zone, said the CBR official, would provide equal opportunities to traders and manufacturers from the Punjab as the project site could easily be approached from Rawalpindi and Dera Ghazi Khan.

“In future, it can also be linked with Gwadar Port to access the Afghan and central Asian markets,” he said.

The federal government has already undertaken the construction of Indus Highway to link Peshawar with Karachi via southern districts of the NWFP including Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Kohat and Karak.