KARAK, Oct 18: Eight villages of Karak district have been provided with natural gas facility.

Provincial Minister for Prisons Mian Nisar Gul on Thursday inaugurated the project. Speaking on the occasion at Ayakhel, he said an oil and gas refinery would be set up in Krappa area soon.

The minister claimed to have accomplished his election promise of providing natural gas to eight villages, which included Tarkha Koi, Drabkala, Kashmiri Banda, Sraykhwa, Mechar Banda, Ayakhel, Tabbikhwa and Sabirabad.

The minister claimed the proposed oil and gas refinery in Krappa would be a joint venture of a gas company Bioco, OGCL and MOL Pakistan. He added teams of experts had reached the site to complete the survey and other formalities.

He also claimed that 6,000 people of the area would get jobs in the refinery, saying Karak would be opened to investors as the district was rich in mineral resources.

Mr Gul claimed that Karak was giving Rs70 billion to the federal government and Rs20 billion to the provincial government annually in oil and gas resources and added now no one could stop the district from progress.

He threatened that if the government failed to give approval of gas supply to 24 villages, people would be justified to have illegal gas connections. He informed that Rs130 million for drinking water supply scheme of Nashpa Banda, Rs40.5 million for construction of road from Indus Highway to Nashpa Banda and an amount for the construction of a dispensary had been released.

He also informed that Rs570 million had been released for Khushal Khan Khattak University and the vice-chancellor had also been appointed to start classes from the upcoming session. He said Rs2.46 million for Zeri dam had been released and work in it would be started in coming days to provide drinking water to Sraykhwa, Kashmiri Banda, Tarkha Koi and Drabkala areas.

He also announced installation of four tube-wells to be completed with Rs10.6 million to provide potable water to Ayakhel and Tabbikhwa areas.