The government may declare transport as an industry enabling the transport operators to get financing from the banks. This was a unanimous demand by the transport operators'' representatives to the Minister for Industries and Production, Jehangir Khan Tareen on Wednesday.
The minister, presiding over two separate meetings with truck body-makers and large fleet operators said the government will take up the issue with the banks and some solution could be found. If declaring it, as an industry is the only solution to promote transport sector then the government will go for it, he assured.
He assured all the stakeholders of the transport sector that the government would solve all their problems to modernise it. A series of meetings have been planned to understand the situation so that a holistic approach could be adopted to improve the services, he added.
The minister said a workshop has been arranged on February 13 in which all the stakeholders are invited to take their comments. The truck fleet modernisation was part of the National Trade Corridor Improvement Programme initiated by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, he added.
Tareen directed the Engineering Development Board (EDB) for conducting a survey of truck body makers. The government will look into the possibilities of establishing an industrial estate of 25 acres around Rawalpindi in order to solve the problem of land for the truck body builders, he added. A training institute for drivers of heavy vehicles will also be established to meet the demand of skilled manpower of the sector, he added.
The meetings were informed that National Highway Authority is planning to establish 104 weigh-bridges at different highways to control overloading, which is damaging roads.
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