KP govt takes up gas connection issue

KP govt takes up gas connection issue

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on Friday said his government has taken up the matter of provision of new industrial gas connections and enhancement of existing connections in the province with the federal government.

Talking to a delegation of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) led by Senator Osman Saifullah Khan on Friday, he said that several letters have been written and meetings held with the officials of the federal government.

The chief minister said that the provincial and federal governments had differences over the utilisation of electricity generated from the additional gas.

“Federal Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar says that power should be provided to the national grid while the provincial government wants its utilisation for the development of local industrial units to attract investment and create employment opportunities in the province,” the CM elaborated.

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.