PESHAWAR: A Chinese company has accused provincial minister for mineral development of creating hurdles for it by not issuing mining licences to it.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Jhon Fu Qiufeng, the representative of Tuny-Pak mineral company, said that they planned to shift their business to Balochistan.

Accompanied by scores of local mine owners including Frontier Mine Owners Association (FMOA) president Sherbandi Marwat and general secretary Haji Abdul Jalil, he said that since July 2013, he had requested the provincial government repeatedly to issue licence to them for exploration of mines in Chitral but it was using delaying tactics.

He blamed Provincial Minister for Mineral Development Ziaullah Afridi for creating difficulties for them and not issuing mining licence to them, compelling them to withdraw investment from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and shift to Balochistan province.

Mr Qiufeng said that Chinese investors had made huge investment by carrying out various projects in mines and mineral sectors in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but the provincial government was not cooperating with them. He said that they had the only option to stop work in the province as they could not waste their time any longer.

“We are unable to continue mining works in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa because non-issuance of licence since July 23, 2013 by Ziaullah Afridi has caused us losses. The best way for us is to move from here because there is complete ban on licences on the pretext of formulating new mining policy in the province,” Mr Qiufeng said.

Citing previous mining rules in the province, he said that the government was bound to issue a licence within two months. He added that application of the company had been pending for last three months but the department concerned was using delaying tactics in issuance of licence to it.

Some other officials of the Chinese company including Wen Jie, Ma Anmin, Luo Xiao Li and Wang Ying, who were also present on the occasion, said that the company had also conveyed its reservations to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan.

They said that they held meetings with Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and former governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to apprise them of the issue. They said that government should pinpoint clearly if there was any problem with foreign investors because Pakistan and China had close relations and the investors wanted to further strengthen the ties.

“Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on March 24 assured us of resolution of the issue. He asked his adviser Rafaqatullah Babar to resolve the issue by holding a meeting with Ziaullah Afridi, who refused to meet us and even threatened to cancel previous lease of the company,” Mr Qiufeng said.

By closing the ongoing projects, he said, hundreds of Pakistani workers would lose jobs.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Marwat said the department concerned had imposed ban on issuance of licences to mine owners for the last nine months on the pretext of formulating new policies.

He said that government had formed mine committees that were cancelling 80 per cent leases while cases were registered against legal mine owners and they were being harassed for the reasons best known to the minister concerned.

Referring to the Chinese investors, Mr Marwat said that such policies would lead the province to economic bankruptcy and no investor would like to come there.

He demanded of the provincial government to end political influence in the mines and mineral development department and allow the officials to work independently as per rules.

The ban on licences, Mr Marwat said, caused huge loss to the national exchequer as illegal exploration was in progress. He said that 1,700 mine lease holders provided employment to thousands of people and paid billions of rupees revenue to the government but licences were not issued to them.

“We can’t pay bribes to people and it is duty of the government to resolve the issue immediately otherwise we have the right to protest and move court,” Mr Marwat said.