PESHAWAR, Feb 14: The Pakistan Stone Development Company (PASDEC) and the Fata Development Authority (FDA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a marble city in Fata.

The MoU was signed at the Governor’s House on Tuesday. NWFP Governor Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai and Federal Minister for Industries, Production and Special Initiatives Jahangir Khan Tareen were present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, PASDEC chairman Ihsan Ullah Khan said the stone industry would be developed to bring it on a par with international market requirements. For this purpose, he said, marble cities would be established, reforms introduced in mining processes and labour trained.

FDA chief executive Arbab Shahzad said this was the first public-private partnership agreement in Fata and agreed to provide PASDEC with 400 acres of land in the Mohmand Agency for the marble city.

The land would be made available to PASDEC in two months, he said. PASDEC will provide infrastructure for the marble city.

Dr Warren Country, head of the J.E. Austin Associates, said Pakistan had best marble and granite stone reserves in the world and even the so-called waste could be productively used in handicrafts.

Mr Tareen claimed that the agreement between the two organisations was an example of close coordination between federal and provincial governments.

He said the marble city would have a facility and training centre, a warehouse facility, machinery pool and a mosaic training centre. These facilities would be available for SMEs who otherwise could not afford such expensive equipment and training costs, he added.

The governor urged PASDEC and the FDA to work in close coordination to develop Ziarat mines.—APP