June 28, 2006	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 1, 1427

ISLAMABAD, June 27: The motorcycle industry in the country is rapidly progressing. In 2005-06, 0.7 million motorcycles were produced. This volume will cross the one-million mark by 2010.

According to a press release issued here on Tuesday by the EDB, the rising volume had compelled the vendors industry to increase parts production manifold, as it was not only meeting the demand of OEMs but also the after sales market.

A delegation of the Association of Pakistan Motorcycle Assemblers (APMA) called on Engineering Development Board CEO Imtiaz Rastgar here on Tuesday and discussed the issue in depth.

They pointed out that crank case crankshaft, transmission, shaft rocket arm, spindle, complete kick starter, spindle gear and spindle cam chain and guide sprocket were in short supply as the production capacities of vendors for these parts are very low.

The gap between supply and demand is met by import. The situation can be judged from the fact that crankcase is manufactured mainly by only two companies but their production capacity is around 6,000 sets per month.

Honda is manufacturing the part in house for 70cc motorcycles only. The CEO advised them that they should not only encourage the existing vendors to increase their production but also provide impetus to investors to invest in this industry for rich dividends in short period.

The scale of volumes involved was now enough for new entrants to come forward and start producing these parts to fill the gap between the supply and demand, he added.