PESHAWAR - Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KPCCI) President Afan Aziz has termed the provincial budget balanced and business-friendly.
Reacting over the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa budget 2012-13 on Saturday here at SCCI office, he said that step of disbursement of Rs 1 billion for industrial growth was exceptional, that would promote industrial sector across the province. However, he demanded of the government to increase the limit of loans for the purpose.
Though, he said the government had unveiled plan to establish new industrial units in Malakand Division, Abbottabad, and Mansehra, whereas the existing industries were immensely suffered due to the ongoing energy crisis, ban on new connections of gas, poor infrastructure and lack of other required facilities. In the prevailing situation, he added the establishment of new industrial units would not support economic growth in the province.
Aziz hailed the government for keeping allocation for initiation of new five hydel power generation projects, which can produce about 200MW electricity in the province. However, he said 200MW electricity would be sell out at Rs 5 to 6 per unit to national power grid, while the same electricity would be given to the industrialists and poor masses at Rs15 per unit, which can not yield positive result of economic and industrial growth.
He further said that KP would get royalty of electricity at Rs 6 per unit to national grid, but it did not provide any relief to the poor consumers and crisis stricken industrialists. The electricity produced by five new hydel generation projects, should be given to industries, which could able to generate employment opportunities for more than 0.1 million people in the province, he maintained.