K-P will have two new mega cities
PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government and the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) have signed four memorandums of understanding (MoUs) worth $10.86 billion for the launch of two new cities and three other development projects of vital importance in the province.
While CPEC City and Peshawar Model Town will be established for transforming the landscape of the province, three hydroelectric power plants will be set up in Chitral, an oil refinery in Karak and a cement factory in Haripur.
The MoU signing ceremony was held at the Chief Minister House on Monday.
Briefing the media later, Chief Minister Pervez Khattak said that his government and the FWO signed the MoUs for $11 billion worth of investment in the housing, oil and gas, hydel and cement sectors.
“The CPEC City project will cost around $4.4 billion, and 62,000 residential plots will be constructed in the mega housing project spread over 80,000 kanal,” he said. “The Model Town in Peshawar costing around $4.6 billion will be spread over an area of 108,000 kanal with 81,000 plots.”
About the other three development projects, Khattak said, “The 600 megawatts hydroelectric power plants will cost $1.10 billion, oil refinery $600 million and cement factory $160 million.”
“These projects are not loan-based. They will be built on Build-Own-Transfer basis. Not a single rupee of the K-P government will be spent on the projects,” said the chief minister, explaining the mode of investment in the projects.
“We are profiting from them [FWO] in various shapes … we will get a share from their profit,” he said, adding that the K-P government would extend full support to the FWO.
“The K-P government is also trying to sign agreements with Chinese companies in the same mode where profit is made without investing a single penny,” he added.
Sharing details of the projects, Khattak said, “The CPEC City will be built near the motorway on Colonel Sher Khan (Interchange) and Peshawar Model Town between Peshawar and Nowshera.”
Explaining the criteria of the profiting schematics, he said, “If 16 plots are established then one will be given to the K-P government.”
According to Khattak’s estimates, the K-P government would earn Rs50 billion worth of profit without making any investment.