New Industrial Policy to be announced by year end

ISLAMABAD: The country’s first Industrial Policy will be announced before the end of the current calendar year, and the government remains in consultations with stake holders to address any concerns before it is finalised.

This was stated by Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo, Federal Minister for Industries and Production, who made the comments while addressing the business community at the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

He said government was working on the first ever comprehensive Industrial Policy for giving boost to manufacturing and production sector.

‘This is an important sector of the economy, and the government wanted to incorporate their views and suggestions in the new policy,’ the minister said, while asking businessmen to give their proposals for the policy to make it more effective.

Mr Watoo also announced that a ‘marble city’ would be established in Islamabad in collaboration with Pakistan Stone Development Company (PASDEC), which will help to boost the local marble industry.

The ICCI was informed that Islamabad was ideally located, close to both the marble producing areas of NWFP as well as consumer markets.

He said government was prioritising the promotion of the SME sector which was considered an engine of growth and a key source for job creation. He said SMEDA would be made more active to accelerate the pace of development of SMEs in the country.

Discussing the energy crisis, Manzoor Wattoo said government was working on different options for meeting the energy requirements of the country including wind, coal and gas etc. He said country was facing a shortfall of 3,000 MW while due to fault at Mangla power station; this shortage had gone up to 4,100 MW. However, he assured those present that by the end of July, the industry will face no loadshedding while country will get rid of this problem by December this year.

Speaking on the occasion, Mian Shaukat Masud, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) highlighted business community issues. He said industry was in deep trouble due to multiple factors including power shortage, law and order situation, high interest rates and high production cost etc.

He said Ministry of Industries and Production had a key role to play in creating an enabling environment for industrial growth. He said Pakistan, with a consumer market of 170 million people, an abundance of raw materials, cheap labor and entrepreneurship, was endowed with all the requisites to climb the ladder of industrialization and all it needed was a conducive Industrial Policy to become a growing industrial country.

He said large-scale manufacturing and textile sectors needed special packages to bring them out of negative growth, and the government should work out these out in consultation with the business community to put industry on the path of growth. He said Islamabad badly needed a new Industrial Estate, as the existing Industrial Estates had become saturated, and sought the Minister’s help for accelerating the establishment of I-17 Sector Industrial Estate.

He said despite earning good profits, banks were not providing soft terms loans to industrial sector and government should come forward to ensure easy loaning facilities and tax relief measures for struggling industries. link...