GUJRAT: The cutlery and stainless utensils manufacturers have been waiting for possession of their plots of land in Wazirabad Small Industrial Estate for the last many years.

The Gujranwala divisional administration has been directed by the government to develop Wazirabad city as a model industrial town after which the city has also been included in the regional economic growth strategy, official sources said.

The Pakistan Cutlery and Stainless Utensils Manufacturers Association recently asked Gujranwala Commissioner Zulfiqar Ghuman to play his role in expediting the process of handing over plots of land to the manufacturers who had already been allotted the plots some years back.

Mr Ghuman had visited the industrial estate area around a week ago where he was briefed by the officials of the cutlery association on the issues pertaining to the delay in making the industrial area functional.

Though 90pc of the infrastructural development of the facility has already been completed at the site but incomplete uplift work and non-provision of electricity and gas pipeline have been major hurdles to it.

At least 14 kanals have been mutated in the name of Gujranwala Electric Power Company (Gepco) for setting up a dedicated grid station but Rs400m are required to provide the electricity and gas connections at the site. At least, 202 plots measuring one kanal, 32 plots of two kanals, 15 of four kanals and 23 plots of 10 marlas have been marked.

The industrialists who were allotted plots have already paid amounts to the Punjab Small Industries Corporation (PSIC); however, they are asked to pay Rs800,000 more as charges of gas and electricity, Khalid Mughal, the chairman of cutlery association, said and added that the local manufacturers had been demanding the government to bear the expenditures required for provision of such facilities.

It is pertinent to mention that at least 1,500 to 2,000 small and medium manufacturing units of cutlery and stainless utensils have been functional in various residential localities of Wazirabad since long.

The local manufacturers have also been demanding establishment of an industrial area in the town for the last almost five decades, says another official of the association who adds that the lack of political support as well as internal issues of the association have been the major reasons behind the delay. He deplores that Wazirabad does not have a powerful voice in the federal and provincial cabinets since long as the neighbouring towns of Gujrat, Gujranwala and Sialkot have been having political representations in the government set-ups and they helped their respective business fraternity to achieve such goals.

The government of Shehbaz Sharif had launched the project of establishing an industrial estate area in Wazirabad in 2014 for the cottage industry on public-private partnership; however, it is yet to bear any fruits for the manufacturers despite of spending a huge amount on the project.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2021