Textile ministry spends Rs 35 million on Training Institutes

Islamabad: The ministry of textile will spend Rs 35 million to upgrade 13 training institutes for honing the skills of manpower in the face of tough global and regional competition, official sources told Business Recorder here on Saturday.

According to these sources, these textile institutes are run by the private sector and the government is eager to help them in capacity building brining them it at par with globally recognised training facilities as far as workforce efficiency is concerned.

'But it is saddening to note that the private sector is not providing satisfactory training, for which government will monitor these institutes to fulfil international quality standards,' the sources added. These institutes will be upgraded in one year with a cost of Rs 35 million. In this respect, the Textile Ministry has established a common board to be headed by the Secretary of the Textile Ministry.

Under this project, international faculty will be hired to train the labour and they will be trained on international lines. Out of the 13 institutes, two are located at Lahore, eight in Karachi and three in Faisalabad, sources informed. The sources disclosed that the Finance Ministry has decided to release Rs 122 million for 4 textile-related projects to be started in January 2008 but due to delay in release of funds, they were postponed.

These projects include Upgradation of EDF (Export Development Fund) Institutes, Clean Cotton Program, Projects' Implementation Cell and the organisation of seminars and workshops to train as well as educate the unskilled labour. The textile industry has a major role in the economic development of the country as it has an edge over other industries with a large labour force and one of the lowest wages in the world.

The textile industry of Pakistan needs low cost abundant energy and an efficient infrastructure with clean water and good roads to remain viable. These are the basic facilities, which any government should provide the industry that accounts for 60 percent of all the exports. Almost $5.5 billion have already been spent on modernising the textile sector but the industry is still feeling the crunch of competition in international market.

Low priced high quality products from the neighbouring countries are the biggest obstacles in the way of progress of our textile industry. Moreover, there are a number of textile industrial units that have stopped production just because of high competition in the global market.

Another problem being faced by the industry is the shortage of qualified professionals in the apparel and knitting sectors. Our trained professionals are going to the neighbouring countries to run their factories and our industry is being left with unskilled and untrained labour force. Pakistan is at the centre of a rapidly developing textile & garments manufacturing region.

Apart from fulfilling its local requirements, Pakistan has emerged as the textile hub in the region. There exists a strong political will to modernise the textile sector and there is an increasing demand for compliance with ISO and other international quality certifications and standards.