Punjab Small Industries Corporation (PSIC) is finalising arrangements for initiating the cluster development programme for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in collaboration with the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (Smeda) in Punjab.
The programme will focus on developing clusters for industries like ceramic pottery (Gujrat), domestic electrical appliance (Gujranwala/Gujrat), leather goods (Sialkot), woodwork (Chiniot), ginning (Rahimyar Khan), hand-loom (Multan) and textile machinery (Faisalabad).
Official sources said here on Thursday that initially clusters for sectors like sportswear (Sialkot), marble and granite (Islamabad-Rawalpindi), PVC and plastic products as well as auto parts (Lahore) will be developed in these areas.
The Punjab government has allocated rupees eight billion for loan facilities to small and medium entrepreneurs and other interested persons for setting up new industrial projects and upgrading and capacity building of existing units. A sum of rupees two billion from the said amount has already been advanced to small and medium enterprises and other interested persons.
To encourage new entrepreneurs in the industrial sector, the sources said, the government had decided to set up small and medium enterprise industrial estates to facilitate the small enterprise sector in Punjab and the proposed industrial estates would be developed in various industrial towns on modern and scientific lines.
They said emphasis was being laid on the manufacture of non-traditional products aimed at earning maximum foreign exchange through increased exports. The sources revealed that a large number of non-traditional products had been identified for the business community.