Federal budget criticised for ignoring marble and granite sector

The 2005-06 Federal budget has been scathed for ignoring marble and granite sector in the country. This was observed by All Pakistan Marble Industries Association (Apmia) Chairman Sanaullah Khan while talking to the Business Recorder here on Tuesday.
He said it was unfortunate that while the USAID had taken a 10-member delegation of marble and granite exporters, including officials from the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) and the Small and Medium Enterprises Authority (Smeda) on an exploratory mission to Italy and Germany, but our own government was not taking any interest in the development of this important sector of economy.
The delegation left here on May 22 and would return on June 10.
At the same time, the Apmia, in a statement, has targeted the Ministries of Commerce and Industries for cold shouldering this important sector, which had big potential of earning foreign exchange for the country as had also been indicated by the World Bank, European Union and the USAID.
The Apmia regretted that despite promises made in the past, no effort had been made by the government to address the core issues like:
-Local issues : Deficiency of basic infrastructure, electricity, road network, water and sewerage system, security/law and order concerns, incentives to marble industry, availability of skilled labour, skill development institutes, government's intervention, duty waivers on import of machinery, facilitation for procurement of equipment, ensuring commercial priorities, and creation of marble cities.
-International issues: Enhancing market access, creating awareness among stakeholders, investment with buy back arrangements, publicity, and product specific exhibitions/delegations.
It said the government had neglected several foreign exchange generating sector and had concentrated only on Pakistani textiles because of the close association of some Federal ministers with this sector.
The strong lobby of textile industry suited the high ups in the concerned ministries, who were in league with the textile associations and had formed partnerships injuring other potential export-oriented industries by giving maximum concessions and ignoring all others, it said.
The statement further said that Pakistan had broad range, high price potential and sizeable deposits of stones. Marble and granite sector of Pakistan, it said, was operating at a primitive level when compared with all other countries.
The statement pointed out that a number of countries had sizeable reserves of marble and granite and there was a large variety of stones available in the global market.
The Apmia said in Pakistan the annual production of marble was 120 million tonnes, and added without any scientific studies, satellite surveys, laboratories, etc the industry was still coping on its own and even stopping the marble imports.
It said the government, in appreciation, should support the marble industry of Pakistan. "It is important that the resources should be made available to all players in the industry, i.e small, medium and large."