Marble and Granite sector is growing fast in the country with huge investment potential. The entrepreneurer's community should come forward to invest in marble and granite industry to exploit natural resources.
Chief Executive Officer of Pakistan Stone Development Company (PASDEC), Ihsanullah Khan said during a presentation in "Bounce Back" Conference on Entrepreneurship held here at Convention Centre. PASDEC has introduced mechanised quarrying technology for extraction of international standards products "Square Blocks" in Pakistan.
He said that Pakistan is blessed with huge reserves of marble and granite, offering tremendous opportunities for investment and business. Ihsanullah said that PASDEC is endeavouring mechanised quarrying practices in the country that include diamond wire saw, chainsaw machines for precise cutting and bench quarrying. The objective is to discriminate blasting and reduces wastage of natural stones.
The PASDEC CEO also informed that approximately 1300 natural stone mines are in operational and over 2000 processing units to produce value-added products in the country. He said that PASDEC established its model quarries and quarry development projects in the country where quarrying is being done by modern machinery and techniques.
He compared the price value of dimensional stone (square block) with stone extracted by conventional methods and stated that square blocks have 70 per cent more value than conventional extracted stones. Hence the earnings ratio is rising with the adaptation of mechanised quarrying. He added that the annual export quantum of marble and granite was quite 40 million dollars during 2007-2008. But now it has increased up to 70 million dollars due to PASDEC efforts for sector development.
During the event more than 200 students have shown their keen interest in Marble Mosaic and Inlay Training, which is going to held at PASDEC head office in coming May. Male and female students of many universities like Air University, Bahria University, Preston University and FAST were also interested to get information about the feasibilities of smart business plans and start ups. Many of male students were interested in Inlay training and PASDEC has also registered them for their next session.-PR