Peshawar, Pakistan: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is known for its best media management and runs the administrative issues only in social media where it always gives a rosy picture of everything while the ground realities are otherwise and one can find only failures, sagas of corruption and incompetency. This is the story of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Economic Zones Development and Management Company (KPEZDMC) which was established as a non-profit organization, within the meaning of section 42 of the repealed Companies Ordinance, 1984 (now the Companies Act 2017) and is wholly owned by the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The company aims to develop and manage world-class industrial estates in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to help organize and establish planned and rapid industrialization in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and rehabilitation of the existing industrial estates is also part of the objectives of this company. Even after working for 10 years, it has failed to achieve any of its stated goals and objectives despite spending billions of rupees on salaries, benefits, and foreign travel spots.
Economic Zone Development and Management Company’s employees’ salaries, benefits, and luxury expenses are increasing every year, while the income is decreasing by billions of rupees. A cursory look into the working of the company indicates that the Company has become a white elephant for the provincial government as it spent over Rs. 880 million and achieved business 4 billion against the target amount of 12 billion rupees. The war of interests among the board members and the appointment of the chief executive have lost the purpose and effectiveness of the institution.
According to the documents, the company has allocated one billion rupees for salaries and other benefits in the financial year 2024-25, out of which Rs. 885 million will be paid in the form of salaries. During the financial year 2023-24, on salaries and allowances, 690 million were received from the treasury in the form of salaries.
While during the year 2022-23, 59 crore 80 lakh rupees had been received in the form of salaries and other expenses. Similarly, the company had set a target of 7 billion 41 crore income during the financial year 2022-23, but out of this, only 2 billion 73 crore was received. For the financial year 2023-24, a target of 4 billion 84 crores was set, in which 1 billion 85 crores were collected, while for the financial year 2024-25, reducing the income by another billion rupees, a target of 3 billion rupees has been set.
During the year 2022-23, Rs. 48 lakhs had been paid for the meeting of the board members of the company, Rs. 39 lakhs have been paid in 2023-24, while Rs. 30 lakhs have been allocated for this purpose during the year 2024-25. A 22 kanal commercial land of the company in Karkhano market adjacent to Hayatabad was given on lease which expired in 2017. However, even after 7 years, the company has remained silent on the land auction. According to the company’s chief executive officer, Javed Khattak, its lease has been renewed on the economic zone industrial estate at a subsidized price, so that it gives the land to the manufacturers so that the industry can grow. The company was given a 328-acre plot in Hattar Industrial Zone in which 140 acres of land is vacant and even after decades, this plot has not been given to any other industry.
Hattar Special Economic Zone has 319 acres of land and these plots have been given to 92 parties. The Economic Zone merged the Federal Government’s Pak Hunting and Sports Arms Company without a financial review and it was merged because the CEO of this company is the brother of Javed Khattak and it became a burden. Javed Khattak, the CEO of the company, was first appointed on 18 March 2020 for a three-year term, whose tenure ended in March 2023, but before the end of his tenure, the company’s Human Resource Committee extended the tenure of the CEO in August 2022 and suggested the extension based on the performance which the Board recommended and sent to the Industries Department. The Industries Department sent a summary of his extension to the Chief Minister, which was approved by the then Chief Minister, but when the case went to the Cabinet, the word re-appointment was used and rules were not followed. Javed Khattak, Chief Executive Officer of the company, when contacted, said that he was appointed by the government under the rules, in which the board has no authority. He said that the Pak Hunting Company had been merged by the provincial government under the rules and in the interest of the province. He claims his reappointment was done because he had done a lot of work during his tenure and many industries have been set up in DI Khan during his tenure.
