The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has made the Project Director of the World Bank administered 'Economic Revitalisation for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata (ERKF)' project a scapegoat on wrong and malicious grounds. The action against the officer has been taken in the wake of a campaign unleashed by some elements having vested interests.
The ERKF Project was conceived to revive and rehabilitate the businesses and SME sector of KP and Fata regions, which were badly affected by militancy and devastating floods of 2010. The ERKF is a $20 million project with $13 million allocated for KP and $7 million for Fata. The project is being implemented through separate and independent implementing units.
The implementation of the SME development component - $14m (65 percent KP, 36 percent Fata) as per scope of the programme - lies with Smeda. The KP part of the project was formally launched in May 2012 while that of Fata a few months later.
The total utilisation and committed amount by the end of September 2013 stood at over 30 percent of $13m in case of KP and not 10 percent as wrongly reported in the press. Contracts for all sub-activities like feasibility study for Diaspora Bond, Reconnect Pakistan Web Portal, Capacity Need Assessment of Industries Department etc have been awarded. The Project duration is upto June 2015.
According to sources, the donors have been terming the progress on the project satisfactory and unfortunately few of our own people with biased approach are bent upon to declare it as inefficient and failure sans any objective analysis. However, as far the investment Road Shows (IRS) are concerned, these are shared activities of KP and Fata with main aim to present and showcase potential projects.
The sources said that in last August, the KP project moved a summary to the Chief Minister to host as chief guest during the first proposed IRS; however due to his preoccupation, the minister for industries was directed to attend. The In-charge IPC and Vice Chairman KP-BoIT and all concerned govt secretaries, heads and other senior office-bearers of all chambers of commerce & industry were properly invited from KP side. Overall more than 500 invitations to leading corporations/businesses and concerned government officials were sent and despite strike in Karachi city due to killing of a political leader, the conference was fairly well attended by investors who also appreciated the efforts of both KP and FATA.
During the Investment Road Show, the joint delegation of KP and Fata was led by the Minister for Industries, Commerce & Technical Education, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Bakht Baidar Khan, who was also the key note speaker. High level representatives from Engro Corporation, The House of Habib, Ittehad Group, Beaconhouse School System, Kohat Cement, Idrees Textile Mills Ltd, I&M Group, ZIMS, Atlas Asset Management, My Karachi, Novatex Ltd, Thal Ltd, Pair Investment Company, Dynea Pakistan Ltd, Habib Metro, Al Baraka, PGJDC, Morgan Technologies, Tabani Group, Byco Petroleum Pakistan Ltd, Osmani & Company Pvt Ltd, Mahenati Corporation, AJCL, PPL, Millac Foods, MAQ International, Speciality Printers Pvt Ltd, ICI Pakistan Ltd, The Agha Khan University, Arif Habib Ltd, Hanjin Shipping, K&N's, UBL, IBM Pakistan, DuPont Pakistan Operations Pvt Ltd, Singer Pakistan Ltd, Genesis Aviation Services Pvt Ltd, Burj Capital Pakistan Pvt Ltd, Pak Brunei Investment Company, Chemgro Enterprise Pvt Ltd, DHL Pakistan, Pak Kuwait Investment Company, Ibex Global, Central Depository Company of Pakistan Ltd and various other prominent business groups participated in the Event.
The print and electronic media present at the occasion gave a wide coverage to the event and termed it successful and a first step in the long journey of attracting investors to KP and Fata. The Event was a unique and successful endeavour in the sense that KP and Fata took a lead, as it was unprecedented that the government of KP and Fata arranged an investment road show in another province. The aim of the event was to showcase, promote, and present potential projects/investment opportunities based on the indigenous endowment in KP and Fata to sensitise the potential investors for investment in the region. During and after the event, interest has been shown by several business concerns in the potential sectors of the province like hydropower, mines and minerals, solar energy and livestock.
Sources in the project have also contested the figures of expenditures figure reported in the media. They said that the show was organised with the financial assistance of Multi Donors Trust Fund (MDTF). No funds of KP government or Fata were involved in arranging the activity. It is a co-sharing component between KP and Fata on 65:35 basis. The total cost as approved by the World Bank for the activity is Rs 26.5 million with KP share as Rs 17.225 million. The total utilised fund from KP share so far is Rs 3.0 million approximately. The total cost as per KP share may not exceed Rs 10.0 million after submission and clearance of post event report by the Event Management Firm.
It is ironic to measure the success of an IRS by evaluating the investment attracted as a result of just one attempt and to have immediate results. Investment realisation needs time and investors do a lot of thinking before making any investment as they have to complete their homework and it is hardly possible to have immediate results. Investment attraction is a complex process and throughout the world dedicated Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) like Board of Investment (BoI) in Pakistan, General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAIF) in Egypt, Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Turkey (ISPAT), and provincial agencies like Punjab Board of Investment & Trade (PBIT), Sindh Board of Investment (SBI), and recently constituted Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Board of Investment and Trade (KP BoIT) are set up for this purpose.
These IPAs spend millions each year with attempts to attract investment in their respective areas through a well devised strategy consisting of market research, investment promotion, investment facilitation, and investment aftercare. IRS or investment conference is just one tool for promotion of an overall investment attraction strategy.
Due to the devoted and efficient performance of the said Project Director, the World Bank recently allotted another Project on value chain in the marble and horticulture sector - CIPK worth $9 million to KP and in record time all the homework for the project has been completed and this new project is ready for take-up. Regrettably, someone with no political or bureaucratic links like the said officer who played a key role to raise and streamline a complex project like ERKF from scratch to track as well as the new CIPK scheme to take up position, had to be made a scapegoat. If this is the change and new KP to disgrace such devoted officers is unfortunate for the province.
