Mansoor Sadiq

The Salt and Gypsum City is going to become a major game changer for Karak and its adjoining areas, including Kohat, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, and Waziristan, offering vast prospects for extended trade and exploration of minerals, oil and gas, reports WealthPK. Karak is a city in the south of Kohat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which shares its border with Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Mianwali and Waziristan districts on the main Indus Highway between Peshawar and Karachi (NA-55).

Talking to WealthPK, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Economic Zones Development Management Company (KPEZDMC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Javed Khattak said Karak was endowed with huge reserves of coal, gypsum, limestone, rock salt, shale clay and silica sand. Gypsum and limestone extracted from Karak are transported to other parts of the province for construction purposes, he said.

Khattak said the Salt and Gypsum City had a centralized commercial area equipped with an uninterrupted power supply and solid waste management system. He said the city had a business-friendly environment for sustainable industrial and economic growth of the southern region with huge reservoirs of salt, gypsum, uranium and oil and gas and availability of the local labour. “The mining, chemical and engineering industries have a vast potential and bright prospects to take advantage of the facilities available at the city,” said Khattak.

As per the estimated figures, Khattak said Karak district held one-billion-ton reserves of gypsum, which could be used in construction, chemical and manufacturing industries, while from the extracted resources of rock salt and silica sand, glass manufacturing industries could be established in the region.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, especially Kohat Division, is exceptionally rich in natural resources, including salt and gypsum. Out of Pakistan’s total gypsum reserves, 92 percent [reserves] are accumulated in KP, with Kohat Division having 89 percent high-quality reserves.

Despite huge reserves of gypsum in the country, Pakistan’s total share of global gypsum trade is limited to 0.6 percent. The initiative of Salt and Gypsum City of Karak will facilitate the mining sector to set up respective industries with value addition and extend the volume of exports to a larger extent. It is worth mentioning that KPEXDMC was established in 2015 with the objective to fast-track the province’s industrial development to fully benefit from the CPEC projects.

The company has established 14 economic zones in KP, including two special economic zones and an export promotion zone. Five new economic zones are in the pipeline. The company hosts 1,200 industries and has revived 200 sick units. These zones employ approximately 150,000 people.

KP can also serve as a gateway to Central Asia through the CPEC, connecting Karachi to Dushanbe. The CPEC now links KP to China. The KPEZDMC EZs and SEZs have an excellent infrastructure. Many factories are under construction or near production in these zones and more industrialists interested in exporting to Central Asia, Afghanistan and China can invest in one of the economic zones.

The mountains of Salt-Range enter Karak from Punjab. There are a large number of salt and gypsum mines in Jatta Ismail Khel, Garh Jawal Khel and Bahadar Khel areas, and reportedly there are huge unexplored deposits of oil and gas in the city. The Salt and Gypsum City has been designed to exploit the untapped potential of these resources to earn valuable exports for the country. The city will provide developed land for industrialists and locals to benefit from the region’s natural resources, thereby providing jobs and resulting in economic prosperity.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk