KARACHI, Oct 2: Emphasis has been laid on developing infrastructure and improving law and order situation in Sindh so that urban-rural divide could be narrowed by setting up cluster of industries in lesser developed areas of the province.

The occasion was a third session of second day of a seminar on ‘Economic Development in Sindh’ organized by Dawn group of newspapers on Wednesday at a local hotel.

It was also strongly felt that without the progress and development of Sindh, the rest of the country could not achieve industrial development which is badly needed to transform the entire society into modern and developed nation.

However, some disparities were also pointed out, and it was suggested that the federal government should immediately remove such irritants among the federating units so that a common goal of achieving prosperity through industrialization could be attained for the betterment of people of all the provinces.

The session chairman Maqsood Ismail strongly felt that a proper leadership is needed to prepare the country to face modern era challenges, and said by year 2005 the industry will have to face slashed tariffs in the world market under the WTO agreement.

He advised the politicians to stop using ‘Sindh Card’ and instead should genuinely work for the welfare and progress of people as majority of them are living below poverty level. Barring, Karachi, where there is some industrial progress, other areas of the province are even deprived of basic needs.

Iqbal Ibrahim, chief executive officer, Al-Karam Textiles speaking on the occasion forewarned that under WTO agreement by year 2005, there would be no textile quotas and as such the emerging of new position would like a double-edge sword for which the country have to prepare itself.

He said as a single crop economy depending much on textile exports “we have to analyze our merits and demerits to face the challenges of free market where tariffs would be slashed down and only those would survive who could market quality products at competitive price with timely delivery.”

Iqbal Ibrahim said that only economies of scale will work and we are already witnessing large scale global mergers to cut down their expenses and increase their market share.

He feared that there would be a lot many industrial units to close down and only a few would emerge as ‘Silver Stars.’ Despite all such odds, he said, “we have some advantages and hoped that by having our own raw material (cotton) and good manpower the country could overcome these challenges.” The textile industry under ‘textile vision 2005’ has already embarked upon BMR and made huge investment over the last three years. However, he said, there is a lot more to be done but said the government, which was supposed to provide infrastructure, has not fulfilled its commitment.

The country could easily produce around 15m bales provided proper planning and guidance is given to growers. Ibrahim said the Punjab could produce around 10m bales and Sindh over 2 million bales and Balochistan could still improve upon its present level of production.

However, he was critical about 15 per cent rate of interest and said against this in neighbouring country India it is in single digit, whereas in Japan it is 2 per cent and US 1.5 per cent. He said without borrowing no industry could be run and suggested that interest rate should be lowered at the earliest.

“Our strength is textile and we have to work on this sector wholeheartedly so that our position in the year 2005 and there after is not snatched away,” he asserted.

Other speakers were Lt Col Mohammad Afzal Khan, chairman PS, secretary labour, transport and Industries, Raja Mohammad Abbas, secretary, Mines and Mineral Division, Sindh and M Aslam Sanjarani.