Managing Director of the Fauji Foundation had a meeting with the Chief Minister, Nawab Sanaullah Zehri, and discussed the investment opportunities in Balochistan. The Fauji Foundation chief expressed his views about establishing a big cement factory in Balochistan. It was a welcome idea to boost job opportunities in the most backward province of the country.

His proposal was that the Foundation will build a huge cement factory and trying to select the area. The areas can be Khuzdar, Bostan and Loralai. Both Loralai and Bostan are close to the Afghan border and if the Fauji Foundation is interested to sell all its products to Afghanistan than both the sites are ideal for making such a big investment.

Otherwise the best suited site is Khuzdar in Central Balochistan or heart of Sindh and Balochistan mainland where the finished products can be rushed to the biggest markets in many surroundings of Khuzdar. In simple words, the distance to all directions is around 200 miles—Karachi, Quetta, Mekran, Naseerabad, Kharan.

Khuzdar is centrally located area where unemployment is at its peak as the Government had failed to establish a single factory there for the past 70 long years. The local residents are forced to earn their livelihood using primitive agriculture or means of production making the area ideal for making significant investment.

Moreover, the Chief Minister is the most popular and powerful Sardar of the area or Chief of Jhalawan or chief of all tribes in Jhalawan who can be best guarantee of security and facilitation in all conditions for having permanent influence over the local tribesmen and the administration. Lime stone or the raw material of the factory, is available close to the RCD highway and transportation is very easy and its cost is also compatible.

Khuzdar is centrally located and it is expected that the Federal Government will provide Sui gas to the entire region for giving a boost to industrial and commercial development of the area sooner. In such a case, cheaper energy resources will remain available in near future.

The reason is that the Federal Government is under tremendous pressure for denying Sui Gas facility to more than 29 districts of Balochistan and to avert this impression that the Federal Government is discriminating Balochistan, Islamabad will provide natural gas facility to Balochistan on priority basis and the first recipient of natural gas will be Central Balochistan, particularly Khuzdar where the Fauji Foundation should establish its cement factory.

The Fauji Foundation had made significant investment in Hub only to avail the facility of tax holiday in 1980s. After long time, the Foundation had not made any significant investment in Balochistan for unexplained reasons. However, it will be the first chance that the Fauji Foundation is giving preference to Balochistan making significant investment.

The Chief Minister, Nawab Sanaullah Zehri should prevail on the Fauji Foundation and particularly its Managing Director to make investment in the Khuzdar—the area considered as heart of Pakistan and it is centrally located. The Chief Minister should also prevail on the Federal Government seeking an extension of Sui gas pipeline from Kalat to Sorab and Khuzdar where the Fauji Foundation should establish its cement factory, the first plant employing hundreds of people.

The area is also rich in mineral brightening the scope of investment in a tremendous way attracting the attention of all the potential investors interested in Balochistan. In any case, Khuzdar is destined to be the industrial hub of Central Balochistan where the basic infrastructure is available for future development.

In a decade or more, its population had increased tremendously merely because of the employment opportunities available in the surroundings. It is expected to further develop for being the centrally located region where connectivity is the biggest advantage for transporting goods and services to different regions.