ADB official pledges to help develop industrial sector

Leader of a three-member delegation of Asian Development Bank (ADB), Senior Economic Advisor and Deputy Country Director Naved Hamid, has said that he is prepared to support private sector industrial development in Pakistan.
Speaking at a meeting of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), he asked for submission of viable projects for the ADB support.
He admitted that the ADB had not done much in the past for the private sector in Pakistan.
Naved Hamid also agreed with a suggestion that presently the ADB was supporting pubic sector projects for development of infrastructure like construction of roads, linking ports through the National Highways to Afghanistan and Central Asian States.
He said it was also supporting projects in water sector to strengthen the existing infrastructure, projects in power sector for long distance transmission and projects in social sector such as education, water supply and urban services.
He said that among the new initiatives, being planned by the ADB, included development of mega cities, industrial effluent treatment plants and development of infrastructure relevant to industries.
FPCCI President Riaz Ahmed Tata has stressed upon the ADB to give more soft-term loans and credits to the private sector for industrial development of Pakistan.
Tata noted that the amount of the ADB loans to the private sector in Pakistan was very small. Although the private sector was the engine of growth, it had not much benefited from the ADB lending, he added.
He said the ADB should involve the FPCCI and the chambers of commerce and industry in awarding loans and credits for industrial projects in Pakistan.
Tata also stressed the need for development of industrial estates in the interior of the country, with provision of all infrastructure facilities.
The FPCCI chief said that no country could achieve real growth without investing in education and human resources' development, but Pakistan was spending less than two percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in this sector.