ISLAMABAD, Aug 22: President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday approved a 10-year “Engineering Vision 2002” with an initial funding plan of Rs4.5 billion.

Official sources told Dawn that after Rs4.5 billion government investment, total local and foreign private investment through the plan was expected to touch $10 to 12 billion over a period of ten years.

The plan was approved at a meeting of leading industrialists particularly those relating to large scale manufacturing. Earlier in the day, Commerce Minister Abdul Razak Dawood had finalized the various aspect of the plan during a meeting with the industrialists.

The plan envisaged establishment of a Rs2 billion technology development fund under the Ministry of Science and Technology for the development of engineering sector on scientific lines and creation of Rs2.5 billion worth of 25 common facility and technical support centres.

The president directed that Pakistani engineering sector investors should renegotiate their agreements with foreign partners particularly in the field of car and tractor manufacturing for technology transfer and for the export of spare parts to other countries through value added quality production.

The plan envisaged to build on the existing engineering base and progressively increase the share of industrial sector to 25 per cent and share of engineering goods to 30 per cent of overall manufacturing in 10 years.

The technology development fund would be utilized particularly for the quality certification and development of engineering sector goods of international quality under ISO certifications.

While preparing the plan, various aspects relating to WTO regime like TRIPs and TRIMs were taken into consideration along with deletion programme particularly in the field of car and tractor manufacturing.

The commerce minister is expected to officially announce various aspects of the engineering plan in a couple of days.