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 to conduct performance audit of these four clusters.

Aslam Iqbal said that Punjab Rozgar Scheme is successfully continuing and Rs10 billion has been allocated in next financial year for this scheme. Under the scheme, soft loans of more than Rs 30 billion will be disbursed, he added.