Surgical City to be set up in Sialkot: minister

LAHORE:Punjab Minister for Industries and Commerce Mian Aslam Iqbal Thursday reviewed the progress on ongoing schemes of Punjab Small Industries Corporation during a meeting held here at Civil Secretariat on Thursday.

An action plan for implementation for new schemes was also chalked out during the meeting. Secretary Industries and Commerce Wasif Khurshid, MD PSIC M Tahir, Economic Advisor Javed Iqbal and other concerned officers attended the meeting. Addressing the meeting, the minister said that work on five schemes of Punjab Small Industries Corporation was in progress while nine more schemes will be launched in the next financial year. He said that in the new financial year, a handicrafts development centre will be set up in Kamalia. A new Industrial Estate will be established in Gujrat, Artisan Village in Khewra and a Surgical City will be set up in Sialkot.

The new schemes also include renovation of sports goods and material testing lab in Sialkot, establishment of tannery zone and setting up of handicrafts development centre at Wahwa, DG Khan.

Under the cluster development initiatives, four clusters of surgical, auto parts, readymade garments and leather footwear have been completed. Under this project, four more clusters will be made. He directed a performance audit of these four clusters.

Aslam Iqbal said that Punjab Rozgar Scheme is successfully continuing and Rs10 billion has been allocated in the next financial year for this scheme. Under the scheme, soft loans of more than Rs 30 billion will be disbursed, he added. The Provincial Minister directed the concerned officers to submit implementation reports of ongoing and new schemes regularly every month.

extension of Kachhi Canal: The Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) has commenced construction work on the extension of Kachhi Canal following award of the contract and mobilisation of the contractors to the sites.

The extension of Kachhi Canal is being carried out through three different contracts with cumulative cost of Rs.19.504 billion. Under the works, existing main canal will be further extended by another 40 kilometers. In addition, 32-km long water distribution system will also be constructed in the command area to irrigate another 30,000 acres of land in Dera Bugti district of Balochistan. The extension works are scheduled to be completed by August 2022.

Wapda has already constructed a 363-km main canal and 81-km long allied water distribution system to irrigate 72,000 acres of land. The canal, with discharge capacity of 6000 cusecs that takes off from Taunsa Barrage in Muzaffargarh district of Punjab, enters Balochistan in Dera Bugti district.

Kachhi Canal is a vital project to alleviate poverty in remote and backward areas of Balochistan by developing irrigated agriculture and agro-based economy in the province. It is a good omen for Balochistan that the land being cultivated in Sui and adjacent areas of Dera Bugti district through Kachhi Canal has brought in a phenomenal change in the livelihood of the locals.