Federal Industries, Production and Special Initiatives Minister Jehangir Khan Tareen has said that the government has no intention to increase power tariff, rather efforts are underway to slash electricity charges, especially for industrial units.
He stated this, while talking to newsmen after attending the inaugural ceremony of "Balancing and modernisation of workshop facilities" at Pakistan Industrial and Technical Assistance Centre (Pitac) here on Wednesday.
Japanese Ambassador Nobuaki Tanaka, Resident representative of Japanese International Cooperation Agency (Jica), Nobuyuki Yamaura, Chief Adviser of JICA Phase-II project Minoru Sassago, Technical Upgradation and Skill Development Company (TUSDC) Chairman Almas Haider and leading industrialists were present on the occasion.
Tareen said that gas prices were slightly increased due to policy of the government, while new gas policy would be formulated. He admitted that the government has failed to check increasing prices of different motor cars. However, he assured that efforts are underway to find out permanent solution of this issue.
To a question, he said that increase in 'own' price of Suzuki Mehran is due to closure of Suzuki factory, which is expanding its manufacturing capacity. He hoped that the situation would improve in February.
To another question, he said that the government is trying to import gas and a decision in this regard is expected next month.
About quality of raw sugar being imported in the country, he said that the government has decided to import raw sugar on the terms and conditions, which were adopted in the past.
Earlier, addressing the function, Tareen said that the institutions like Pitac would be set up across the country to provide support to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). He said that these SMEs are main source of creating large-scale job opportunities in the country.
He said that Pakistan needs 26 technical centres for industrial clusters and efforts are in progress to achieve this target, which is not easy. He said that in a country of 150 million population there are only 150,000 trained skilled workers against the requirement of 5 million.
Tareen said that he would hold meeting with Japanese ambassador next month to seek assistance in the establishment of these centres at the towns like Gujranwala, Multan, Hyderabad, Gujrat and Wazirabad.
Talking about Pitac restructuring, he said that efforts were on to provide a flexible management from the private sector. However, this centre and other technical training institutions in the country would be looked after by Technical Upgradation and Skill Development Company, the subsidiary of Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC).
He appreciated the role of Japanese International Cooperation Agency (Jica) for making a positive contribution in increasing Pakistan's technical assets. He hoped that the establishment of workshop facility at Pitac would help in transferring of technology to Pakistan in the field of computer integrated mould designing, processing and assembling, besides enhancing the technical competency of Pakistani technicians and technologists.
Japanese Ambassador Nobuaki Tanaka said that his country had long been helping the SME sector in Pakistan. "We have a long association with Pitac," he said.
He said that Jica was helping their Pakistani counterparts in attaining most advanced skills. He said that 10 people had so far been trained in Japan and the Philippines to attain specialised expertise and knowledge.
He hoped that the project would positively contribute towards human resource development and foster growth of small and medium enterprises.
Pitac General Manager Ejaz Rasul Chaudhry presented the address of welcome.