The government has drafted a new industrial policy with focus on the revival of about 1909 sick industrial units across the country in consultation with all the relevant stakeholders. Official sources told APP that in the light of the information provided by industries departments of all provincial governments, 1909 industrial units were sick due to variety of reasons. They attributed closure of these industrial units to financial crunch, outstanding liabilities of commercial banks , high cost of production , law and order situation, electricity and gas loadshedding and partnership disputes.
The official sources said that out of 1909 sick industrial units, 480 were in Punjab, 779 sick units were in Sindh, 568 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 82 industrial units were sick in Balochistan province.
They further said that a total number of 1579 industrial units have been closed down during the last five years.
Giving break-up of closed units in all provinces and in EPZA were in Punjab Punjab 115 units, Sindh 700 units Khyber Pukhtunkhwa 688 units Balochistan 29 units and in Export Processing Zone Authority (EPZA) 47 industrial units were closed down and become sick.
The official sources further said that approximately seven thousand five hundred and thirty (7530) workers rendered jobless due to closure of industrial units during the period. They claimed that New Industrial policy, which will be announced shortly after in consultation with all stateholders including the owners of the sick units would help addressing the issues that have led to closure of the units and formulating measures to revive the sick units if found them viable for industrial growth in the country. The sources added that manufacturing is the third largest sector of the economy , accounting for 18.5 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) , and 13 percent of the total employment while the Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) at 12.2 percent of GDP , dominates the overall sector , accounting for 66 percent of the sectoral share , followed by small scale manufacturing, which accounts for 4.9 percent of the total GDP. The expressed the hope that the new industrial policy after its approval and implementation would help revive sick industrial units, promote industrialization , increase productivity and exports, create more job opportunities for people in their respective provinces and enhance economic growth leading to poverty alleviation in the country. – App
