Electricity outage closes 30pc factories in Khost

KHOST CITY (Pajhwok): Thirty percent of factories have stopped functioning in southeastern Khost province due to electricity outage and non-availability of the industrial park, factory owners said on Saturday.

There are around 240 large and medium factories in Khost where as many as 7,000 individuals are working.

Naseebullah, the owner of a factory in Azadi Mena Township, said his factory stopped functioning from the past six months.

He said continued electricity outage and non-availability of industrial park forced him to stop production.

Saddam Zadran, another industrialist, said besides the lack of other facilities, continued electricity outages were problems that prevented them to explore the market for their products.

“Local products are expensive while imported products are cheap, so we want the government to decrease taxes on our products.”

Khost Chamber of Mines and Industry Head Gulzar Ali Jananzoy said up to 30 factories had stopped functioning in Khost province in the past six months.

He asked government officials to pay attention to the problems faced by industrialists.

Khost Information Department Director Shabir Ahmad Usmani assured that problems faced by industrialists would be resolved one after another.

He said the entire country was facing an electricity shortage but officials had been trying to resolve this problem.

Referring to the industrial park, he said sooner than later an industrial park would be opened for industrialists.

nh/ma