A five-year strategy for electrical capital goods industry, drafted by the Engineering Development Board (EDB), will soon be finalised to boost manufacturing activities and strengthening the local capital goods industry. A German consultant has been hired by the government to give final touches to the draft of the strategy for the industry.
Main purpose of the policy is to ensure smooth supply of electrical capital goods to the power generation and distribution companies, including Wapda and subsidiary companies and KESC. According to 'Industrial Bulletin', an in-house journal of EDB, the initiative has been taken to protect local market of these goods during the next five years, based on the demand potential of Wapda and KESC.
The market potential would provide necessary stimulus to devise a roadmap for the local electrical goods industry to reinforce its capability to capture the high tech market as well. The roadmap envisages assessment of the capacity of local electrical goods industry.
It would also identify the technological gaps for products where imports have not been substituted so far, and co-ordinate the technological transfer/joint ventures enabling the local industry to benefit the local market potential and substitute imports. It would also include assessing the regional market potentials of electrical capital goods to encourage local industry enter the field of exports.
Wapda has provided assessment of future demand of electrical capital goods by its subsidiaries, like National Transmissions and Dispatch Company (NTDC), Distribution Companies (discos), thermal units (gencos), hydel units during the period 2009-14.
Similarly, KESC has also provided necessary feedback. Already, compilation of market potential of 163 electrical capital products has been completed. After determining the market potential, EDB is now planning to hold broad-based consultations with the local industry to work out the requisite investments and technology transfers to enhance its capacity as well as regional markets.
The technology transfer cell of EDB is now engaged in working out the technological gaps in the local industry through foreign manufacturers/suppliers of electrical capital goods to Wapda and KESC.
To make Pakistan a dynamic engineering powerhouse, measures are being taken to strengthen the institutional framework, create an enabling environment for the entrepreneurs and effectively linking the industry with academia to promote research and development as well as strengthening engineering and science education in the country.
Elaborating the measures taken to strengthen the indigenous engineering industry, the CEO of Engineering Development Board said: "Defining the way forward in engineering sector is to bring about a quantum change in industrial growth." He stressed that the targets of enhancing share of engineering sector in manufacturing from the present 18 percent to 25 percent and taking the country's exports to $30 billion may be set over a realistic timeframe.
The engineering sector had been the real growth promoter and constituted over 60 percent of the total global trade. Citing examples of Asian countries like Korea and Malaysia, which had achieved strong industrial growth on the back of vibrant and strong engineering sector, he said that banking merely on three traditional export sectors of textiles, leather and rice would not lead Pakistan to become an Asian Tiger.
He advised that the way forward should be to continue pushing export-led growth strategy in traditional sectors, pursuing growth in some engineering sub-sectors through import substitution and identifying some engineering sub-sectors for export-led growth.
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