FAISALABAD:President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) Dr Khurram Tariq Tuesday said that foundry is the mother of all industries, and we must upgrade it in line with the new global technologies to exploit its export potential.
He was talking to a delegation of Faisalabad Foundry Owners Association (FFOA). The delegation was comprised of Chairman FCCI Standing Committee on Foundry and Allied Engineering Muhammad Ashfaq Ashraf and Chairman FCCI Standing Committee on Agri Engineering Mr Atta Ullah in addition to Executive Members Haji Abdul Rauf, Haji Ismail, Jaleel Malik, Abdul Razak, Sanaullah, Rizwan Ahmad, Muhammad Abid and Muhammad Yousaf.
The president FCCI said that the future of the industrial sector had been directly linked with the foundry sector and, “We must try our optimum best to reorganise and upgrade it on modern scientific lines. Similarly, the government should also play its role to facilitate it in providing raw material along with necessary tax exemptions.” He said that in Pakistan our per acre yield was almost half as compared to neighbour country and thus “We failed to exploit its potential.” He termed short term policies as a major hurdle in our sustained progress and said that our myopic approach was hindering the conception and implementation of long term policies.
The president assured that he would evolve a comprehensive strategy for this sector in consultation with Mr Asim Qadri, President Pakistan Foundry Association (PFA) before the next budget.
Responding to a question about the revival of Karachi Steel Mill, he said that apparently it seems impossible, however, “We could establish at least two new steel mills by selling its assets to provide pig iron to the domestic industry.” Similarly, he assured to streamline the availability of hard cock and said that the ore had been detected from Chiniot and “We must set up a steel mill there to avail this reserve.”
Dr Khurram said that the biggest cane crusher of Luciana (Brazil) was made in Pakistan and it means that our foundry owners had potential to manufacture world quality products for export purposes. He said that the business growth was imperative to involve our new generation, so that our practical experience of 40-50 years could be transferred to them.
He said that FCCI was ready to extend full support to the local foundry owners in this regard.
Earlier Mr Ashfaq Ashraf said that the foundry sector of Faisalabad had been manufacturing agriculture appliances and water pumps in addition to the sophisticated parts of textile and other machineries. However, he admitted that they failed to introduce new technology in this sector. He said that Mr Asim Qadri of PFOA was expected to visit Faisalabad next week and he would try to arrange his meeting with Dr Khurram Tariq.