(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Pakistan is one of the best places to make money and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, or KP, is an ideal destination for investment in the country.
This was stated by top government officials of KP and top executives of private sector during the KP Investment Road Show in Dubai on Wednesday.
The first-ever road show by the KP government aimed at promoting KP's potential in hydel power generation, marble and granite, tourism, and oil and gas.
Addressing the event, KP Board of Investment and Trade (KP-BOIT) vice-chairman Mohsin Aziz unfolded specific projects for investors in the province.
"We are project-specific instead of sector-specific, as the feasibility reports would also be shared with the interested parties at the Dubai show to facilitate potential investors," Aziz explained.
He said that the BOIT will focus to attract investment in energy, gas and industry along with other potential sectors.
"We have prepared a comprehensive plan for attracting investment in five major sectors; hydel power and gas generation, industries, drilling of natural oil and gas reserves, tourism," he added.
He said the board's key functions are projects conceiving, pre-feasibility, exploring investors, facilitation and ensuring zero-corruption in all projects, he added.
Aziz emphasised the need for investment in the industry and power sectors, adding that industrialisation has been adversely affected due to unfavourable environment for investment over the past years.
The establishment of a couple of hydel power units in private sector could turn around the provincial economy, as KP has over 35,000MW identified hydel power generation potential.
Aziz also discussed in detail the investment opportunities available in the proposed sectors of the province.
Agriculture
He mentioned that dates are one of the most important cash fruit crops and Pakistan is among the top 10 dates-producing countries in the world. KP is blessed with high-quality dates producing areas such as Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, Lakki Marwat and Bannu. The dates of the region are comparable with well-known international brands and possess high demand in both local and foreign markets.
"We have 1,000 acres of land ideal for dates," he said. It is envisaged to plant 100 trees per acre, hence a total of 100,000 trees on 1,000 acres of land.
Mines and minerals
Talking about mines and minerals, he said the cement industry is one of the successful sectors of Pakistan with tremendous progress recorded recently. This sector ranked Pakistan amongst the top 10 cement-exporting countries of the world.
Most of the cement manufacturing plants are located near mountainous regions or plateaus that are rich in raw material required for cement production. Several cement factories are operating in KP including Lucky Cement, Bestway Cement, Cherat Cement and Kohat Cement, among others.
He also mentioned that the province is blessed with varieties of metallic, non-metallic, industrial mineral, precious and semi-precious stones. Mining and quarrying contributes 14.45 per cent in the industrial sector and share three per cent toward GDP of the country. He said that KP has extensive potential of copper, gold, lead, zinc, nickel and platinum, in addition to rock salt, gypsum, coal, limestone, silica sand, clay minerals, magnesite, chromite, feldspare, dolomite and soapstone available at various locations.
He said that marble and granite is an emerging and promising sector having huge potential for investment both in mining by using mehchanised and modern quarrying techniques, as well as processing the output to transform into dimension stones.
Tourism
Aziz discussed a number of projects for tourism purpose and also asked investors to build resorts at key places in the province. The provincial government has taken the initiative of opening of government resthouses for general tourists. Around 100 resthouses will be offered to the private sector.
He said Galliat is one of the most attractive tourist destinations. It has not only high mountains of Meranjani and Mushkpuri both at the height of around 2,800 metres but also has combination of mesmerising valleys, natural forest of pine trees and grassy grounds.
Galliat is a frequently visited destination by a large number of tourists in all seasons due to its round-the-year accessibility except for few days in the winter due to heavy snowfall. Other famous tourist destinations of the area include Changla Gali, Dunga Gali and Ayubia.
Syed Samar Hasnain, executive director of the State Bank of Pakistan at Development Finance Group, provided an economic overview of Pakistan with a special focus on KP.
He said Pakistan recorded 4.14 per cent GDP growth in 2013-14 and the current year's GDP growth is projected at 5.1 per cent. Inflation remained in single-digits year-on-year in January this year.
Giving the banking sector outlook, he said assets grew by 10.2 per cent to Rs11.11 trillion and advances to the private sector grew by over 10 per cent in 2014.
To achieve equitable economic growth a holistic approach has been adopted to enhance reach of banking services to agriculture, SMEs, micro-finance, housing branchless baking, export finance, Islamic banking and infrastructure.
Talking about foreign investment policy, he said it's investor friendly as long-term financing facility is available at 7.5 per cent and short term at six per cent.
Raza Jafar, chief executive officer of Ensha, in his case study talked about opportunities, investment protection, return on investment and challenges of operations in Pakistan. He said Khyber Bank is one of the big investors in the province.
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