PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has difference of opinion with the federal government over the utilisation of electricity generated from additional gas as the Centre wants the power should be provided to national grid while the provincial govt wants its utilisation for the development of local industrial units to attract investment and create employment opportunities in the province.
KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak stated this while talking to a delegation of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) led by Senator Osman Saifullah Khan.
The CM informed that the provincial govt had time and again taken up the issue of new industrial gas connections and enhancement of existing one in the province with the federal government, adding that several letters had been written and meetings held with Federal Finance minister Ishaq Dar in this regard.
He added: “For this purpose, the provincial government had written letters to both Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the finance minister and warned to file petition in the Supreme Court.”
He expressed anguish over the delay in handover of labour colony at Gadoon Industrial Estate (GIE) to workers and directed the completion of the process within a period of two days.
The delegation demanded that industrialists be allowed to shift faulty machinery from GIE for repairing.
In this regard, the chief minister announced the constitution of a committee comprising of Special Assistant to CM, Abdul Monim Khan, Mohsin Aziz, Secretary Industries and two Aptma representatives for preparing a detailed report on operational and non-operational industrial units with a period of one week in light of which a notification of 1992 could be denotified.