Staff Reporter
Peshawar
Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan has said that provincial government was committed to provide a conducive environment to investors in the province for which multiple initiatives have been undertaken including strengthening of communication networks in the province and provision of cheap electricity to industrial consumers through wheeling of electricity. He was chairing a meeting of the Public Private Partnership committee regarding approval of revised concession agreement for Rashakai Special Economic Zone (RSEZ) here Saturday.
The Concession and Development agreements of Rashakai Special Economic Zone have been closed after which the multi-million dollar project is expected to be inaugurated soon marking the commencement of rapid and extensive industrialisation programme of the provincial government in the province. He stated that the incumbent government is focused on revenue generation by exploiting the strategic location, natural resources and business friendly environment of the province. Rashakai Special Economic Zone will surely play important role in the overall program of the Provincial Government regarding rapid investment and industrialization.
He said that this project is the top most priority of both the governments of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and China under CPEC frame work. This project not only will promote industrialization but will also create tremendous employment opportunities for the province, he added. As per details of the project, the economic zone will be established over an area of 1000 Acres for which the provision of electricity by the federal government will be provided in three phases. DDWP has approved the PC1 for provision of electricity costing Rs 1,825.79million under which provision of 210mw electricity will be ensured in three phases. 10mw of electricity will be provided by 29 Feb, 70mw by December of the ongoing year whereas the remaining 80 MW will be provided by Dec 2021.
As for the provision of Gas, the PC1 amounting to Rs 1,203 Million has also been approved during the DDWP meeting held last month whereas work has already been initiated on Phase 1 regarding the establishment of access roads ie from Wali Interchange (on Peshawar Islamabad Motorway) to Zero Point of the economic zone. As per the concession agreement, the project will be implemented in three phase. In the first Phase247 Acres of land will be developed followed by development of 355 Acres of land in phase 2 and 399 Acres of land in the phase 3 of the project. At least 80% of the entire work force including labour personnel deployed during the construction period will be Pakistani nationals.
