LAHORE, Nov 15: Engineering Strategy 2002 , an action plan to make the local engineering industry a viable sector, is likely to be finalized by end of this year to enable the government to accommodate its recommendations in the budget 2002- 03.

The strategy is being developed by Small and Medium Enterprizes Development Authority in collaboration with the industry.

“The plan will give a ten-year roadmap for the industry, comprising short-term and long-term goals and objectives,” said Almas Hyder, who heads the steering committee constituted by commerce minister Abdul Razzak Dawood to pilot the formulation of the strategy.

The committee comprises leading businessmen from the industry, and was formed at a high-level meeting held here on August 6. The steering committee is supported by a “core team” comprising Smeda and Engineering Development Board officials. It also assists some 11 sectoral teams, consisting of businessmen, in devising the strategies for their respective sub-sectors for “incorporation in the overall engineering strategy policy.”

Hyder, a leading businessman, told Dawn on Thursday that the sectoral committees were already working on their plans, adding that the strategies for four sectors would be finalized in next few days for review by the steering committee at its meeting scheduled for Nov 29. He said the sectoral teams had “hired three experts each for their professional advice in areas of marketing, sales, cost, manufacturing and international trade.

The engineering strategy, said Hyder, would “strive to lay out an action plan to achieve long-term goals in a short period.” The strategy for the engineering sector is being devised to “make the industry efficient and to enable it to meet the challenges of the post-WTO world.” The exercise, he said, would also help “document the large informal engineering sector in the country as well.”

The plan will strive to offer effective solution for the local and international marketing needs of the industry, improvement in technology, development of human resource and issues relating to financing and equity. It would recommend creation of a regulatory environment conducive for the growth of the engineering industry. The strategy would be reviewed periodically in order to revise it to cope with new, future challenges.