August 30, 2007	Thursday	Sha’aban 16, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Aug 29: The Export Development Fund’s board of administrators on Wednesday approved an amount of Rs728.048 million to be spent on implementation of various projects for promotion of exports.

A board meeting, headed by Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan, reviewed overall implementation of various projects under the trade policy, besides approving new projects. Representatives of the stakeholders attended the meeting.

The projects which were approved include purchase of land for Dazzle Park in Karachi at a cost of Rs300 million, establishment of campuses of the Pakistan School of Fashion Designing at Islamabad and Karachi.

A proposal to improve quality of hides and skins (research project of Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA) and University of Veterinary Animal Sciences, Lahore), was also considered and a grant of Rs0.748 million was approved. This project will be 80 per cent funded by the Higher Education Commission.

For conducting various studies in the textile sector, an amount of Rs4.3 million was approved.

Moreover, an amount of Rs250 million was approved for the Garment City at Karachi.

The Board also approved Rs50 million for skill development of machine operators in the textile/garment industry.

The meeting also approved a project of tomato paste plant at Muslim Bagh, Killa Saifullah at a total cost of Rs123m. Balochistan over the last two years has emerged as a major producer of tomato with 42 per cent share in the total tomato production.