PESHAWAR - In pursuance to the decision of the provincial cabinet and state of emergency declared in the wake of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Secretary Industries, Commerce and Technical Education Department, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has constituted a task force under his supervision to evaluate the overall impact, including production losses and unemployment due to the corona virus, on the industrial sector in the province, said a notification issued here Saturday.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Economic Zones Development and Management Company (KP-EZDMC), Javed Iqbal, was nominated as chairman of the task force, while other members include CEO KP-BoIT, Director Industries, Managing Director, Small Industries Development Board (SIDB) and Project Director (PD) Economic Revitalization of KP and FATA (ERKF) project while Manager Estate (KP-EZDMC) as secretary.
The task force would propose measures to mitigate various types of losses and fiscal incentives to government for recovery of industrial sector.
The task force has started functioning and submitted its recommendations to the Secretary Industries for exempting various industries from the observance of holidays, which had formally notified their exemption.
The exempted industries include oil and ghee and its allied industries like tin manufacturing, printing, packaging and plastic poach packing while flour and its allied industry of polypropylene have also been exempted from the lockdown.
Similarly, bottled water & beverages and their allied industries including plastic & glass bottle making, bottle cap making, seals making and printing and packaging were also exempted.
Similarly, the exempted agriculture sector units are also included pesticides, fertilizer and seeking making while cement factories of Lakki, Kohat, Cherat, Nizampur and two units of Hattar were also exempted of the holidays. Six sugar mills of Peshawar, Mardan and D.I. Khan were exempted.
Furthermore, tobacco processing units and cigarettes manufacturing units of Peshawar, Charsadda, Nowshera, Mardan and Swabi were also exempted from the holidays