Pakistan Seeks Industry Growth

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – The stone trade in Pakistan may be setting some large goals in improving exports … but it’s not just a matter of production and sales.
Principals in Pakistan’s marble and granite industry met with government officials in mid-October to develop strategies for increasing trade, according to the Pakistan News Service (PNS). Shahab Khawnja, chief of the country’s Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (SMEDA), says that’s there’s a potential of attracting Rp2 billion Pakistani ($34.4 million) in investment and creating 10,000-50,000 jobs in the next three years.
SMEDA’s target is to increase marble and granite exports from the current $20 million to more than $500 million. Khawnja says that Pakistan is exporting only three percent of its production, compared to 52 percent in neighboring India.
Some of the export lag comes from current methods of exploration, which Khawnja cites as allowing 80-percent wastage of resources. The country’s stone sector would need training and assistance in updating quarries.
The other problem is with what industry principals called “the critical law-and-order situation” in various provinces from “uncooperative locals,” according to the PNS.
SMEDA will continue to work with Pakistan’s stone industry, the PNS report noted, with the support of the U.S. Aid for International Development (USAID) project in the country.