PESHAWAR – The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has signed investment deals with 44 foreign investment companies worth $8 billion at Dubai International Expo-2020.
Reports in local media said foreign firms expressed their interest in various projects in tourism, industrial, infrastructure, food processing, livestock, energy and power sectors, and a water sports theme park at the investment conference on Sunday.
KP Minister for Finance Taimur Khan Jhagra was the chief guest while Additional Chief Secretary Shahab Ali Shah, provincial minister Shaukat Yousafzai, SACM on Trade and Industries Abdul Karim Khan, Pakistan Ambassador to UAE Afzaal Mahmood, Secretary for Sports, Tourism, Archaeology, Culture, Museums, and Youth Affairs Amir Sultan Tareen, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Culture and Tourism Authority (KPCTA) DG Kamran Ahmad Afridi and others attended the conference.
KP government held a successful investment conference in #Dubai .
I am very glad to announce that we have signed MoUs with large investment groups in energy, agriculture, tourism, and other sectors. This marks an era of progress and opportunities in the #KhyberPakhtunkhwa. pic.twitter.com/ZJbDJooM2C— Mahmood Khan (@IMMahmoodKhan) January 16, 2022
Secretary Tourism Amir Sultan Tareen, KPCTA DG Kamran Ahmad Afridi, DG Pakistan Trade Development Authority Rizwan Tariq, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Board of Investment and Trade Chief Executive Officer Hassan Daud Butt, and others briefed the investors about investment opportunities in various sectors in the region.
Taimur Jhagra speaking at the event said that PTI-led provincial government was replicating the UEA model to promote international tourism in the province.
Projects were already designed for presenting at the expo, he stressed while revealing potential for investment in the tourism sector in northwestern Pakistan.
He said the objective of the integrated tourism zones was to bring international tourism to the province, adding KP was the only province in Pakistan that built the country’s first motorway to Swat through public-private partnership.
Under the multi-billion deals, the Enertech-Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) would invest $120 million in the installation of the hydrogen power plant to produce hydrogen from the water that will be transmitted through containers for producing energy from it.
Meanwhile, KIA signed a memorandum of understanding worth $2700 million investment in sustainable development in the Khanpur area. The Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Company would invest $1200 million in the Lower Spath Gah project. The company is the subsidiary of Korea Electric Power Corporation.
The Private Office of Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook-Al-Maktoum will invest $165 million in the Swat transmission line and Samara Group agreed to make $100 million investment in food processing unit.
Another group signed an agreement to invest $150 million to build a ski resort in Kalam through a public-private partnership. Similarly, Gezhouba Group Corporation would invest $250 million in transmission line from Chitral to Chakdara, Lower Dir.
Zonergy made $300 million investment for solarisation of government buildings across the province and the establishment of a PV manufacturing facility in the province. Al Raee Group of Companies would invest in the tourism sector. The firm would establish a four-star resort in Bahrain with a cost of $10 million.
Tulip Hotels would invest $90 million while Virtual Smart System agreed to make $50 million investment in solar park development.
