A dispute between Forest and Tourism Department of Khyber Pakhtunhkwa has led to failure of a Rs.3 billion tourism project at Malam Jabba, which left 600 locals jobless and due to which Samson group of companies sustained loss of millions rupees per month.
The closure of resort not only left 600 person’s jobless but also threatened and will have impact on tourism at Swat. Addressing a Press conference here on Monday at Swat Press Club, General Manager Malamjabba resort
Pir Waris Shah and Admin Zaid Khan said that we respect the court verdict but conspiratorial elements were spreading various propaganda to stop the development of tourism at Malam Jabba Swat, Samson
Company has invested billions to build the only five star PC hotel in the province. 150,000 tourists were visiting Malam Jabba every month, which further led to opening of hotels and businesses in and around Malam Jabba, created more job’s in the locality but now after the
closure of the resort, barely 500 tourist’s visit the scenic spot and returned due to the closure of the PC, he maintained. GM PC Malamjabba further went on saying that 275 acres of land has been leased from the government by Samsons Company under an agreement but suddenly forest department and the locals of the area were claiming the Malam Jabba land acquisition due to which the owners of Samsons Company are facing severe difficulties including financial loss.
The authorities of Malamjabba resort appealed to the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that they should immediately resolve the issue and determine the leased land, so that other projects, including chairlift can be opened in Malam Jabba so that it becomes a tourist’s destination hot spot again in the region.
