Syed Marwan Shah

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan has great potential and opportunities to attract domestic and foreign investors. Investment in the province will contribute to the economic stability of the entire country. Various sectors in KP including oil and gas, agriculture, hydropower, gemstones, mining, horticulture, information technology, livestock, forestry, special economic zones, and tourism and hospitality can attract a huge investment if the opportunities are explored properly. The investment pitch book of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Board of Investment and Trade (KPBoIT) states that the main goal of the board, as an organisation charged with luring investment and serving as the focal point for KP's ease-of-doing-business initiative, is to recommend regulations to attract both domestic and foreign investment.

KPBoIT has developed an effective investment promotion plan that entails a variety of actions to encourage investment to the important industries including hydel power, tourism, mining and minerals, agriculture and businesses. According to Aitezaz Hussain, a KPBoIT official, the goal of the board is to develop KP as an appealing industrial and economic destination in the area through its “open door” policy. Supporting the relocation of industries and adopting modern technologies in the province will enable KP’s industrial sector to compete at the national and global levels.

The investors are offered various incentives such as original installation and balance, modernisation and replacement (BMR) facilities for onetime duty and tax-free import of capital items including plant and machinery, exemption from provincial electricity duty for new and expansion projects and exemption of tax on the transfer of the property of sick industrial unit. “In addition, non-financial incentives are also offered to the investors.

These incentives include a one-stop, one-window facility jointly operated by KPBoIT and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Economic Zones Development and Management Company (KPEZDMC) for facilitation in licensing, registration, regulatory awareness and compliance, simplification of documentation procedures for various purposes, encouraging small and medium enterprises for branding their products and innovation-based diversification by SMEs through government-supported research and development,” said the official. WealthPK research shows that the province’s key areas for investment include hydropower. The province’s hydropower potential is 30,000 megawatts, which is equal to 50% of the total capacity of the country. The natural gas reserves in the province are estimated at 16 trillion cubic feet, showing high investment potential.

The mining sector includes marble, limestone, dolomite, soapstone and silica, which have a production capacity of 14 trillion tonnes per year. Additionally, the gemstone sector has 70 million carets potential. The province has reserves of 1.10 billion barrels of oil. The agricultural sector of KP also has huge potential for attracting investment. The crops of maize, wheat, sugarcane, and tobacco have a capacity of 7.5 million tonnes of yield per year. The official said that investment in those sectors would create a large number of employment opportunities in the province besides promoting business, revising industrialisation and ensuring economic growth. “Investment in the province will contribute to the economic stability of the entire country,” he told WealthPK.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk