PESHAWAR: Pakistan Hunting and Sporting Arms Development Company (PHSADC) will establish a modern common facility training centre (CFTC) for upgrading of hunting and sporting arms manufacturing industry of Peshawar and Darra Adamkhel.

According to a statement, the PHSADC has acquired a building in small industrial estate, Kohat Road, Peshawar for the purpose.

This CFTC will be the first of its kind in the country’s history equipped with latest machinery and equipments keeping in view the needs of hunting and sporting arms manufacturing industry of Pakistan.

The statement said that PHSADC conducted various studies on the sector which revealed multiple problems and weaknesses.

There was no concept of quality/standardisation, CAD/CAM, use of special purpose machines, engineering drawings, dies, jigs and fixtures and majority of manufacturers were confined to hand crafting which limited the volume of consistent production.

It was stated that the industry lacked properly educated and skilled human resource to adopt latest manufacturing technologies.

Because of unavailability of educated technical personnel, gun-makers were using ancient methods of gun smiting which is very old and time consuming. Moreover, the quality and reliability of locally produced firearms was another important issue.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play