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PESHAWAR: Danish investors and their partner Fatima Group have urged to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister to help them get No-Objection Certificate for two cement plants, one in Haripur and the other in Dera Ismail Khan.

Ambassador of Denmark Rolf Holmboe met with Chief Minister Mahmood Khan and discussed facilitating the investors.

The CM assuring cooperation has directed secretary industries to resolve the irritants on an accelerated basis.

Chief Minister Mahmood said K-P government offers an investment friendly environment to both the domestic and foreign investors in the three special economic zones of the province.

However, industrialisation should not come at the cost of environmental degradation, he said.

“Policy framed for investment in the province would be followed in letter and spirit and all projects in the special economic zones should be environmental friendly,” he said.

The meeting with Ambas­sador Holmboe followed a detailed presentation by the Fatima Group.

The Danish investors and Fatima Group are jointly investing $300 million in project of setting up cement manufacturing plants in Haripur and Dera Ismail Khan.

Minister for Mineral Development Dr Amjad Ali, Special Assistant to CM on Industries Abdul Karim Khan, Principal Secretary to CM Muhammad Israr, Head of Strategic Support Unit Sahibzada Saeed, administrative secretaries and Fatima Group’s officials were present in the meeting.

Representatives of Fatima Group said that they were a reputable Pakistani conglomerate which wants to establish cement plants in Haripur and DI Khan districts.

Both of these plants will be environment-friendly production facility that will contribute to the social and economic development of the whole region creating over 2,500 direct and indirect employment opportunities.

Besides, the managements of the cement plants set up by the Fatima Group and the Danish investors will also upgrade and establish schools, technical institutes and medical facilities within the vicinity of the projects, the representatives of the conglomerate told the meeting.

The investors requested for the NOC by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to Fatima Cement for project site at DI Khan, issuance of mining lease to Fatima Cement and support in establishing special economic zone in DI Khan and Hairpur. The participants were briefed about the expertise of the Danish government supported Fatima Group and different sectors.

CM Mahmood welcoming the Danish ambassador assured all out facilitation for the Danish foreign funded Fatima Group’s projects in Hattar special economic zone and D.I.Khan.

He assured that the issues related to the smooth launch of the project would be taken care of.

He said that recently the provincial government had a meeting regarding investment of China Road And Bridge Corporation (CRBC) in Rashakai Special Economic Zone.

The CM said that it is appreciable that this province would have one of the largest cement plants of the country, which will be meeting all environmental conditions.

Mahmood assured of total transparency in the matters of setting up the plants and merit based decision making under the law of the land.

He said that it is encouraging to see the change of perception both of domestic and foreign investors, who are coming to the province for investment in different sectors.

No more red tape

The red-tape was a thing of past. “The attitude of the public sector is now magnanimous, welcoming and facilitating investors in different sectors,” the CM said assuring of speedy processing of documentation to facilitate the investors.

He asked them to prepare a master plan along with feasibility that would be processed on fast track. He directed the Secretary Industries to sit with the Fatima Group for accelerating the resolution of irritants if any and take all out efforts to facilitate the investors. He also directed the relevant quarter to resolve the NOC from EPA and mining lease related issues in this regard.

The CM said that K-P is fast emerging as centre of trade and industrialisation in the wake of CPEC.

Industrialisation, he added would create job opportunities, enhance trade and business activities that would lead to the overall prosperity of the province.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2019.

KARACHI: Stocks exten­ded the gaining streak for third session on Monday as the KSE-100 index climbed 501.68 points (1.22 per cent) and closed at 41,614.39.

Investors’ confidence continues to mount as worries over the pressure on the external front have started to subside with positive news flow of possibility of Chinese deposit of $2.5 billion in the State Bank of Pakistan.

It would be in addition to the $2bn remaining tran­ches from UAE and anticipated $1-2bn to be mobilised from recently laun­ched bonds. The planned visit of Saudi crown prince also raised hopes of more support to low foreign excha­nge reserves.

Investors also were enthused by the recent buying spree by foreign investors of stocks worth $30 million in two weeks. However, figures released by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan showed that companies and other local participants entered to pick stocks, while foreigners took a breather. Faces fell for a while on the news of S&P downgrading Pakistan from B to B-, but investors soon shrugged off the downgrade.

The rally was led by cement scrips due to the decline in international coal prices. DG Khan, Fauji, Maple and Cherat all hit their upper circuit while Lucky Cement added 4.7pc to its value.

The volume increased 11pc to 254m shares while the traded value jumped by 16pc to reach $71m. Stocks that contributed significantly included Bank of Punjab, K-Electric, Azgard Nine, Pakistan Interna­tional Bulk Terminal and Power Cement, which accounted for 28pc of the day’s turnover.

According to Arif Habib Ltd, sector-wise contributors included cement, higher by 131 points, banks 103 points, exploration and production 84 points, power 47 points, pharma 40 points and tobacco 24 points. Scrip-wise, major gainers were Lucky Cement, up 4.71pc, Pakistan Petroleum 1.25pc, Bank Al Habib 2.15pc, Pakistan Oilfields 2.06pc and Searle Company 5pc.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2019

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning and Statistics Makhdum Khusro Bakhtiar has said the special economic zones under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would be made functional soon.

“The government is taking solid measures for progress and development of the country,” Khusro Bakhtiar said while talking to a local channel on Saturday.

He said the impact of those measures would be visible in the next two years. “Pakistan had entered into agreements with China pertaining to agricultural cooperation and industrial and socio-economic development,” he added.

He claimed that the past governments ruined administrative structure of the country and the incumbent government was taking measures for its overhauling.

The government had entered more than three agreements with China, he informed. “These include industrial development, agricultural cooperation and socio-economic development.”

He told that bridges over river Indus would complete this year.

The minister said power projects and water preservation projects will be launched in Rahim Yar Khan this year.

Couple of weeks ago, Bakhtiar had said China would release $1bn grant for less privileged areas in the country.

Khusro Bakhtiar said that the government would take benefit from Chinese model to eliminate poverty from the country. He said that China would also invest in petrochemical sector.

He had said that special economic zones under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would be made functional soon. He said that the government would take measures to boost agriculture sector and would reduce import

Published by the business