Khyber Pakhtunkhwa SIDB to establish eight industrial estates in province

Small Industries Development Board (SIDB), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was working on establishment of eight small industrial estates in various parts of the province, out of which three estates included SIEs Mardan, Charsadda and Karak would be completed by June 30 this year.
According to a spokesman of the board these small industrial estates would be established under public-private partnership to provide facilitate investors in expansion of their businesses and create employment opportunities for the skilled and unskilled labourers.
The establishment of the industrial estates would help create opportunity to local investors to invest and increase their production, which may be carried out through forward marketing in presence of sufficient financial capital. Under these projects, the board will develop partnership with landlords to develop new industrial estates on prospective areas. They would get returns in future after development and selling of the plots to investors through Small Industries Development Board.
He said that the board has established three new industrial zones in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, whose development will trigger investment in small scale manufacturing sector, as indicated by initial response of genuine applicants for plots. According to authorities in Peshawar, Security has been a major concern for many investors, but things are improving and they are expecting investment in small and medium size industries in various parts of the province.
The SIDB reckons that the proposed SIE at Mardan will mobilise investment worth Rs 1 billion and generate at least 25, 000 new jobs. Mardan Industrial states already has a SIE. Allotment process of industrial plots in this under-construction industrial zone has been started and it is expected that utilisation of these plots by the investors will start from June onward, when development work will be completed.
The SIE Mardan, the spokesman said, would prove a hub of marble industry, as is evident from the majority of applications for plots. Marble industry enjoys advantage in Mardan because unfinished marble rocks are extracted from the nearby deposits and then transported to other parts of the country. A portion of the raw material also goes to value addition chain within Mardan, where finishing of the marble tiles is done by over 200 marble factories, scattered all over the district.
The under-construction SIE Mardan would be provided required infrastructure including electricity. SIE Karak also has a number of comparative advantages. Solid waste, being generated in the process of oil and gas exploration from the Tall Block, covering areas of Karak, Kohat and Hangu districts, is used as raw material for producing plastic goods. At the moment this solid waste is transported to other parts of the country that becomes a costly operation for industries of Punjab and Sindh. However, in case industries are set up in the backyard of these oil and gas wells it will be an advantage for the investors.
Similarly, the under-construction SIE Karak can be a major driving force for investment and generating jobs in this southern district that also has huge deposits of salt-based industries, while SIE Charsadda, as per government guesstimate, is going to attract an investment of about Rs 1 billion and will generate 20,000 jobs.
A portion of SIE Karak is expected to go for marble industry; however, spokesman of SIDB said that investment in the vegetable processing would also come in this zone. Charsadda, a fertile agricultural land with comparatively better irrigation system, is already catering to the local demands of vegetables and some seasonal fruits. In addition to these three under-construction SIEs, expansion of existing two SIEs at Peshawar and Abbottabad is also on the cards for which funds would be allocated in the annual development programme (ADP) of the upcoming year.