March 16, 2008	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 7, 1429

KARACHI, March 15: The Sindh Small Industries Corporation (SSIC) is constructing an industrial estate at Mitthi in Thar district at a cost of Rs156 million which is expected to be completed by the end of June.

An SSIC official told Dawn on Saturday that Rs23 million had been spent on developing the 50-acre industrial estate which would have 126 plots of 500 and 1,000 yards each and an artisan colony, for which the federal government had provided Rs133 million, comprising 100 handicraft shops and an identical number of residential quarters for women engaged in handicraft work.

He said that small-scale industries using coal and granite would be allotted plots in the estate as the area had vast mineral deposits. Agro-based industries would also be set up in the estate.

He said that the federal government was building this artisan colony with an aim to organising the handicraft sector as well as rehabilitation of womenfolk engaged in making various handicrafts in their homes by providing them a nice workplace along with residences under one roof.

A display and marketing centre would also be built to help these women artisans to sell their products to local and foreign buyers, he added.

The official said that products which would be manufactured in the industrial estate could easily be marketed in Karachi as a new road had reduced travelling time between Mitthi and Karachi to only three and a half hours.

The official urged investors to set up their units in the industrial estate as it would not only offer good prospects for the downstream industries based on coal and granite but also provide an easy access to Karachi for marketing their products. The work on construction of roads and sewerage was in progress, while tenders had been floated for the development of other infrastructure, mainly power, gas, telephone lines, etc., he added.