The Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) has chalked out a road map to resolve the industrial, business and social problems during 2006-07.
Talking to newsmen, FCCI President Muhammad Ayub Sabir Chugtai underlined the importance of Faisalabad in national economy and said that it was contributing 67 percent towards textile exports. "It is the second biggest revenue generating city but infrastructure-wise it was not getting due importance", he said.
He said that FCCI has chalked out a calendar for the next year to tackle various issues systematically by establishing close relations with the local, provincial and federal government departments concerned. He asked the media persons to bring to his notice the problems confronted by various segments, so that these could be tackled effectively.
He said that the future of four sectors, including textile, was bright in Pakistan. He appreciated the economic polices of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and said that zero rating of the textile sector was one of the most daring steps taken by his government.
He said that government has also given the facility of 5 percent R&D to textile exporters. However, exporters were facing some problems due to increase in cost of production. He said that the exporters had doubled their production capacity to avail the benefits of quota-free regime under WTO. However, oil prices increased the cost of production creating problems for textile exporters.
He said that now as the oil prices are falling and textile sector would soon come out of the inflationary spell. He said that one of the biggest industrial estates of Pakistan was being developed along M-3 on 4500 acres land. The existing units present in congested residential areas would be shifted to this estate in addition to the establishment of new industrial units.
He said that FCCI has also been negotiating with Fesco officials to overcome load shedding. In this connection private power generators would give their surplus production to Fesco, he said, and added that modalities in this regard were being finalised with the officials concerned.