KARACHI, Feb 13: A leading group of companies is interested in setting up a cooking oil and ghee making plant in Afghanistan with facilities to manufacture soap as well.

International Multi Group of Companies that owns one of the leading cooking oil and ghee factories in Pakistan has informed the Afghan government of its plan and is sending a team of engineers for feasibility study of this and some other projects.

“Our team of engineers would be leaving on Friday and travel up to Jalalabad,” said Amjad Rashid who heads the group. Talking to Dawn by telephone he said his group had also written a letter to Afghan Finance Minister Hedayat Amin Arsala seeking his cooperation in setting up the proposed project in Afghanistan.

“The group intends to take initiative from Pakistan to establish a ghee, cooking oil, soap manufacturing unit with joint venture/joint cooperation from public/private sector in Afghanistan,” reads the letter of January 26. “We have technical capabilities, resources and backup of raw materials with available market of our Shama brand in Afghanistan.”

The group finds itself well-positioned to venture into war -torn land-locked country because the cooking oil and ghee manufacturing plant (Associated Industries Ltd) that it owns was established in 1961 as a joint venture between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Besides, the company had once set up a soap factory in Kabul. What happened to the factory in the long years of war in Afghanistan is not known.

Located in the North West Frontier Province, ASL manufactures Shama brand of cooking oil and ghee. It is a public limited company and is quoted on the stock exchange.

Overall, the International Multi Group of Companies owns two cooking oil and ghee manufacturing plants, two units of textiles, one leasing company and two food processing units with commercial exports and imports. Gross sales of all these units combined is roughly Rs4 billion.