'Marble, granite quarries are being run on modern lines'

Pakistan Stone Development Company (Pasdec) has now introduced mechanised quarrying through state-of-the-art machinery to develop the marble and granite sector on modern lines. Chief Executive Officer of Pasdec, Ihsanullah Khan said that Pakistan is blessed with huge reserves of natural stone, but unfortunately marble and granite sector could not exploit these resources to boost its economic development during last sixty years of the country history.
He was speaking in an inaugural ceremony of All Pakistan Marble Industries Association (APMIA) Head Office. He appreciated APMIA's efforts in supporting Pasdec at times when it was needed. The Pasdec is dedicated to make Pakistan globally competitive and socially responsible player of the international dimensional stone industry. Pasdec is focused on achieving one goal, extraction of 'Square Blocks'. This strategy would have a trickle down effects through the value chain of the industry, achieving tremendous transformational impact, he added.
He said that Pasdec has established 29 prototype projects of marble and granite in short span fulfilling its due commitment to the sector. 'We established three Model Quarries at Khuzdar, Buner and Chitral (KPK) and 10 Quarry Up-gradations in Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa, Fata, Sindh and Punjab.
The quarrying projects are producing 'Square Blocks' of marble. The mechanised quarrying practices decrease the natural stone wastage ratio from 85 percent to 40 percent (mine to processing). It also discourages blasting practices of extraction of natural stone, which is not only dangerous to human life, but is adding to environmental degradation." He said that Pasdec has also established two warehouses at Gaddani and Risalpur for storage of raw stone and finished products of marble and granite. While two machinery pool projects established at Gaddani and Risalpur are serving mine owners and lease holders to acquire modern quarrying machinery on nominal rental charges. Pasdec will establish Marble City at Mohmand Agency, Risalpur and Loralai to facilitate processing with trained workforce and latest processing machinery and infrastructure. Two Common Facility Training Centers (CFTCs) will also be established.
He said that by the efforts of APMIA and Pasdec, the marble export quantum is increasing at 35 percent annually. He hoped that $500 million export target will be achieved in near future. Sikandar Hayat Khan Jogezai Chairman of APMIA and ex-chairmen Shahidur Rehman, Abdusami and Saleem Mughal were also present on the occasion.