The government must take immediate notice of the scarcity of raw material and bring the customs duty to zero rated for pig iron and coke import, in order to strengthen foundries in the country, enabling them to play their role in the development of engineering, particularly automobile sector.
It was resolved in a meeting of Pakistan Foundry Association (PFA) held here on Friday. Among others, the meeting was also attended by the General Manager Engineering Development Board, Syed Adil Shah, Muhammad Alamgir Chaudhry, provincial chief of Smeda, Munir Ahmad and member, Pakistan Standard Quality Control Authority (PSQCA).
PFA President and Chairman Millat Tractors Limited Sikander Mustafa Khan briefed the participants about issues confronting the foundry sector. He said the foundries are facing acute shortage of raw material, skilled manpower and required technology. He urged the stakeholders to acquire latest technology so that engineering sector contribution to the GDP could be enhanced.
He said that the association has planned to conduct seminars and workshops in which local and international experts would be invited for strengthening the foundry sector. Pakistan Steel is consuming all imports of coke and prefers high value added products, he said, and added that foundries' main problem relating to shortage of pig iron and coke is likely to be eased out within next four/five months.
Syed Adil Shah maintained that the country's demand for steel has increased to 4.71 million tons, while Pakistan Steel is producing only 1.1 million tons. Some part of the demand is met out of import of 1.4 million tons of steel.
In view of the prevailing situation, the indigenous resources are required to be developed when Pakistan wants to produce 500,000 cars by the year 2010. Steel base must be strengthened for construction of mega dams and completion of other big projects in the country, he added. He assured all out help to facilitate foundries in enhancing their capacity.
Alamgir Chaudhry briefed the participants about measures being taken by Smeda for promotion of foundries. He said that Smeda is establishing common facility centers (CFC) in the country. Earlier, Smeda had set up three centers in Sialkot, Gujranwala and Gujrat. It is also planning to set up similar centers at Chiniot so that wooden furniture manufacturing units could be strengthened. He revealed that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has provided US $12 million in this regard, while provincial government has also released necessary funds for setting up of CFC.
PFA General Secretary, Asim Qadri, said that if Pakistan needs an export oriented economy, the foundry sector has to be developed, which is the backbone of the engineering sector and particularly for the value addition. He said that PFA delegation is going to India to attend a congress on engineering sector in first week of January next year.
Meanwhile, Sikander Mustafa Khan said that Millat Tractors Limited (MTL) has produced 22,000 tractors during last year as compared to 19,000 of previous year, donating an increase of 28 percent production.
However, MTL has set a target of producing 30,000 tractors in the current year so that it could initiate export after meeting local demand, he added. The tractor industry, that has achieved 90 percent deletion, is taking over 200 vendors along in the development of economy of the country, he maintained.
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