The Pakistan Textile City Karachi project is on the verge of collapse, incurring huge loss to the national exchequer as the government is paying about Rs 400 million as interest on banks loans per annum. This was revealed by Federal Minister for Textile Industry Abbas Khan Afridi while briefing the National Assembly Standing Committee on Textile Industry here on Monday. The meeting was presided over by Khawaja Ghulam Rasool Koreja.
The Textile Minister sought parliamentarians help in this regard, saying the project should either be shelved or developed as there are too many issues including gas and electricity provision.
He said that if the project succeeds, it will play a pivotal role in country”s economy.
The project was twice inaugurated in the past, but pending for last 11 years and incurring huge losses to the nation.
All related issues to the much delayed project must be addressed as soon as possible, as it would provide employment to over 50,000 people, the minister maintained.
The committee supported the minister and decided to hold next meeting at the project site to review the actual situation.
The committee expressed serious reservations over the unabated raw cotton exports, saying that after three months, no cotton would be available for the local industry. The parliamentary panel strongly recommended limited raw cotton export and opposed any duty on yarn import, as it is benefiting other regional competitors and hurting the domestic value-added textile industry.
Parliamentarians observed that cotton is being exported to China and Bangladesh which are the main competitors of Pakistan and their export is strengthening. Abdul Rasheed Godil said that a certain “mafia” has besieged the textile industry. The Textile Minister seconded the proposal of limited cotton export.
The minister said that raw cotton export results in competitive advantage for other countries such as Bangladesh and negatively impacts our exports. Value addition is norm of the day and must be encouraged.
The committee recommended eight new and five on-going projects worth over Rs 3.5 billion under the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) of 2015-16. The committee raised serious concerns over the Faisalabad Garment City (Phase-I), saying that some special people were benefited.
The committee was informed that the Garment City building, constructed at a cost of Rs 600 million, however rented to Masood Textile on a nominal rent of Rs 25 million per annum. Officials informed that following PPRA rules tenders were floated three times; however nobody expressed interest in it and finally it was rented to Masood Textile.
The committee observed that rent was not upto the mark and recommended for upward revision. Ministry officials assured the committee that the matter would be raised with the Board of Directors of the Company and hopefully it would be revised upward. The committee recommended the second phase of Faisalabad Garment City with the conditions that only smaller units or clusters would be allowed in the project ranging from 20-50 machines.
The committee also recommended opening of two textile sale production bureau in Dubai and in South Africa where exporters could display their products to earn more foreign exchange. The committee also supported the ministry over its stance of getting its due share from the Export Development Fund (EDF). The committee discussed and approved projects, including Faisalabad Garment city phase-2 (Rs 598.5 million), Faisalabad Garment City Training Centre (Rs 60 million), Karachi Garment City phase-1(Rs 805.119 million), monitoring and management of BT resistance in cotton bollworms (Rs 59.822 million), cotton as relay crop in standing wheat for enhancing productivity of cotton and wheat crop (Rs 17.190 million), development of management strategies for red and dusky cotton bugs(Rs 59.928 million), implementation of cotton standardisation system for the production of high quality standardised clean cotton (Rs 75.160 million) and the Prime Minister”s Skill Development Programme.
The continuation of on going projects (included in PSDP 2014-2015) Pak-Korea Garment Technology Training Institute Karachi, strengthening of National Textile University Research Centre, strengthening of Research and Development Cell, Skill Development Program for informal textile industry were also approved. The other approved projects include laying of water main line for Pakistan Textile City Karachi and Lahore Garment City (phase-1).
