PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Board of Investment and Trade (KP-BOIT) has called for provision of 40mmcfd gas to the province for generation of 200 megawatts of electricity.

Vice-chairman of KP-BOIT Mohsin Aziz said in a statement here on Friday that the electricity generated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should be allowed for the utilisation of local industries instead of shifting it on to the national grid. He said that another 40 mmcfd gas should be provided to the industrial sector. The step, he said, would play a fundamental role in the economic development of the violence-hit province.

He said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was the victim of both economic and financial backwardness and it always demanded the announcement of incentives for the establishment of new industries. He said that location disadvantage, including long distance from the seaport and market, were the basic reasons for its backwardness.

Mr Aziz said that the province had sufficient gas reserves and the Constitution also gave the right of their use to the province. The total gas production of the province was 370 mmcfd while the industries were being supplied only 40 mmcfd gas.

The BOIT vice-chairman said that though the prime minister, during the meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI), had approved the provision of additional gas to the province, it would still not prove beneficial for KP as the additional electricity would be shifted on to the national grid and the required energy could not be supplied to industries.

Published in Dawn, November 29th , 2014