Pakistan has potential to excel in Marble Industry
By Ali Imran

ISLAMABAD—Utilization of modern technology and trained human resources were prerequisite to explore, evaluate and thereby capitalize the vast resources of marble and granite in the country.This was the crisp of the meeting Pakistan Stone Development Company (PASDEC) had with the Federal Minister for Industries, Production and Special Initiatives, Salman Taseer here on Thursday to discuss prospects of marble industry in the country
Salman Taseer assured the PASDEC delegation of government’s cooperation in promoting the marble cities and responded positively to their several queries about how to promote this sector.
He said that Pakistan was rich in marble resources and added that the government had already taken steps to promote this sector.
The PASDEC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO, Ihsan Ullah Khan told the minister that Pakistan had clear edge over India as well as China to excel in marble industry due to varieties of such resources in the country.
“We have about 64 marble types which India and China lack,” the PASDEC chairman said. However, he added, that 85 per cent of the marble is wasted due to blasting and lack of proper facilities adding that utilization of modern technology would enable reduce the losses up to 45 per cent.
He also underlined the need for proper disposal of marble waste to check pollution and to save the nearby lands. He gave a detailed presentation about how to improve and promote the marble industry in the country and suggested that clustering of stone industry was vital for its survival.
He stressed the need for establishing warehouses to ensure an efficient inventory of raw material adding that there was dire need for human development also by providing trainings to the people. PASDEC has already initiated efforts to import machinery from Italy, he said and requested the minister to help the investors get collateral loans to timely start their businesses.
The PASDEC delegation also stressed the need for establishing mineral development bank in FATA and also apprised the minister about sales tax issues to be discussed with Federal Board of Revenue. It may be recalled that the government is all set to set up four marble cities in different areas of Pakistan aiming to explore widespread marble reserves and provide job opportunities to the people.
These cities would be established in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Risalpur, Northern By-pass Karachi and at Lora Lai in Balochistan province. Ihsan Ullah Khan informed the minister that 80 plots would be created in Rasalpur, 200 in FATA and 200 in Karachi marble cities respectively which would be provided on same conditions as were provided in Sundar city of Multan.