March 1, 2003	Saturday	Zul Hijjah 27, 1423

KARACHI, Feb 28: Small and medium enterprises have urged the Ministry of Industries and Production to bring the working of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda), the SME Bank and that of PCSIR under one roof.

In a communication to Industries and Production Minister Liaquat Ali Jatoi, Unisame convener Zulfikar Thaver stated that all the three institutions are the facilitators of SMEs, therefore, their working should be closely linked with each other for getting quick results.

He said if the SME Bank was there to provide funds, the Smeda was a guiding and organizing force with the PSCIR working as a technology provider to the SMEs.

“Without linking the operations of these vital institutions for the SMEs, the desired results in attaining high and rapid growth in small and medium enterprises in a shortest possible time could not achieved,” Mr Thaver added.

The Unisame convener informed the minister that the PCSIR is ready to undertake manufacturing on contractual basis and is also offering turnkey projects and has a long list of industries, some of which are for import substitution and are cheaper than imported technology.

The shortcoming is that so many SMEs don’t know about Smeda and the SME Bank or PCSIR. They think that like other institutions these are also there to cater to the needs of big business, he added. The PCSIR is usually taken as a government run laboratory and is not allowed to enter into any commercial venture.

Consequently, on a visit to any of these institutions the prospective small and medium entrepreneur does not get full and final solution to all his problems and has to keep on visiting in order to find a total solution.

He also urged the minister to induct an SME representative on the board of these institutions who could be a guiding force to these institutions.