Pakistan Cotton Fashion Apparel Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PCFAMEA) has demanded of the government to provide additional funds of Rs 80 million in order to develop the 'garment skill development schools' that were being established with a total cost of Rs 96 million, being facilitated by the Export Development Fund (EDF), sources told Business Recorder here on Thursday.
Sources said that PCFAMEA was being provided Rs 96 million by the Textile Garment Skill Development Board set up by the Ministry of Textile in order to establish the skill development institutes with the basic objective of providing comprehensive consultancy services and technical guidance on all aspects of garment manufacturing and productivity.
"Under this fund, four skill development schools would be opened with Rs 20.5 million each. But the institutes require additional funding by the government as the expenditures are much more than being provided by the EDF administered by the Ministry of Commerce", sources disclosed.
"We have written a letter to the secretary of Textile Ministry in this respect a few days ago but have received no response from them until now", they said. Sources told this scribe that two months ago, a Chinese delegation visited these schools and had shown its interest in providing technical training here.
The garment sub-sector has the highest value addition in the textile chain. Pakistan has a share of 1.5 percent in the world apparel trade conducted by developing economies while share of Bangladesh in apparel export is 3.1 percent, Sri Lanka 2.0 percent whereas India has 4.3 percent. The Planning Commission has set an export target of 19 billion dollars and imports are projected to be 29.6 billion dollars in the next fiscal 2007-08 with a deficit of 10.6 billion dollars.