President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), Mian Zahid Hussain has said that the wide gap between the government and the SME sector should be bridged to benefit from the potential of Gujranwala. He said that there are around over 20,000 industrial units in the district of Gujranwala, employing over half a million people but are deprived of government's interest.
He said Gujranwala is the third largest industrial city of the country, after Karachi and Faisalabad and a centre for manufacturing fans, motor pumps, washing machines and many other export-related products. Mian Zahid Hussain said that apart from grains, sugarcane, melons, cotton, and rice, the city produces woollen textiles, vegetable oil, industrial machinery and other electric goods, poultry feed, soap, rubber tire and tube, metal and melamine utensils, cutlery, kitchenware, ceramics tiles, sanitary wares, sanitary fittings and steel pipe.
However, the owners of SMEs and cottage industry complain that the authorities need to pay attention to their problems for smooth operations of industrial units, he added. Industrialists say that their competitiveness is constrained by bureaucratic red tape, corruption, inadequate industrial infrastructure, policy instability, access to financing and severe energy shortages which make the area a less attractive destination for investment.
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