GUJRAT: Despite completion of most of the infrastructural work in the Wazirabad Small Industrial Estate, local manufacturers have been awaiting possession of their plots due to the unavailability of electricity, gas and other basic facilities there.

Hundreds of manufacturing units of cutlery and stainless utensils have been operating from residential areas in Wazirabad city, causing a great deal of inconvenience to the residents as well as manufacturers for over five decades.

In 2014, the then Punjab government had launched the small industries estate project for the cottage industry on public-private partnership.

Khalid Mughal a former chairman of the Pakistan Cutlery and Stainless Utensils Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told Dawn that the local industrialists had already spent Rs1 billion on land and infrastructure. At least 272 manufacturers had been given allotment letters by the government, but they were yet to get the possessions due to a lack of basic facilities, he added.

Haji Naseer, the chairman of cutlery association, said Rs350 million was required for the provision of electricity and gas connections to the industrial estate. The Gujranwala Electric Power Company and Punjab Small Industries Corporation had recently signed a memorandum of understanding for establishing a grid station at the site for which Rs250m was required, while the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited had already issued a demand notice of Rs100m for the installation of a gas pipeline.

He said the local manufacturers could not afford to pay such a huge amount and the Punjab government had repeatedly been requested for it so that the industrial area could become functional.

Former association chairmen Hamza Shakil and Nadeem Warraich said a delegation had held a meeting with Punjab Minister for Industries Mian Aslam Iqbal a couple of weeks ago in Lahore and apprised him of the issues being faced by the local manufacturers. They also demanded the release of Rs350m for the industrial estate being a public-private partnership project.

They added that the minister had pledged to visit Wazirabad very soon to resolve the issues pertaining to the cutlery industry so that the sector could grow up to its full potential.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2020