ISLAMABAD, Feb 1: The government has identified nine major engineering products which are likely to be offered additional incentives and concessions in order to substantially enhance their exports.

Officials told Dawn on Tuesday that it had been proposed that these nine engineering products should be provided certain incentives and concessions within the next few weeks time. However, some other officials believe that a comprehensive package should be worked out in this respect and place for approval in the next financial year.

These engineering products are: steel, automobile, plastics, tools, foundry and forges, industrial valves, boilers, agricultural machinery and textile ginning machinery. Later, some more engineering products could be added to the package.

When approached Engineering Development Board (EDB) Chairman Waseem Haqqie said that the an extensive plan had been finalized to increase engineering exports to $3 billion from $713 million annually, and initially some engineering products would be accorded required attention and facilities.

He said automobile, cement, sugar and electrical industries had increased their production capacity from an average 60 per cent to about 90 per cent, and therefore, needed to be given incentives to help earn additional foreign exchange.

Mr Haqqie said the government was extending technical and other required support to help enhance value-addition of various engineering products with a view to grabbing more export opportunities in the world market.

However, sources believe that it is essential to identify specific sectors in which Pakistan should invest so that the country can achieve a high growth target and rapid development.

It has been proposed to the government to indicate key prioritized areas in which planning should be focussed over the next decade or so, and cover major productive sectors of the economy, including agriculture, industry and services.

In order to achieve rapid growth in each sector, the government needs to substantially strengthen research and development efforts and create the necessary human resources which can face the challenges of globalization and international competition. Also, there is a need to diversify into fast growing sectors like engineering and electronics.

The most important step for the promotion of the engineering sector in Pakistan is to allocate more resources to technical education, the lack of which has been identified as one of the reasons for a limited progress in the engineering sector.

There is also a need to develop design engineering capabilities, databases and infrastructure, create testing laboratories and instruments, and initiate public-private partnership in projects leading to innovation of new products and processes.

The EBD officials maintain that since the textile sector has just six per cent share in the global $12 trillion trade, it should not be given much importance viz-a-viz the engineering sector which has its 60-70pc such share in the world trade.

However, some other officials believe that the textile and clothing sector is the main stay of Pakistan’s economy and as such could not be ignored. With a 24 per cent share in value-addition of the manufacturing sector, the textile sector employs 38 per cent of the workforce in the industrial sector, and constitutes roughly 70pc of the total exports.

But the textile sector is facing a number of challenges, including a low technological base, lack of research and development, lack of trained manpower, low quality standards, concentration in low value-added products, and too much reliance on cotton.

While agriculture is the largest sector of the economy and over 60 per cent of the population of Pakistan relies on this sector, the country’s crop yield remain low and the share of agriculture in the total PSDP/ADP has declined from 12.78 per cent to only 0.94 per cent.

The government was also told that the goals of industrial vision could not be realized without an efficient energy sector. The supply-demand analysis shows that even with modest economic growth, the current rate of change in supply, will result in power shortages in Pakistan, adversely affecting the growth process. “There is no doubt we needs to concentrate not only on the expansion of energy resources but also to improve efficiency of resource use,” a source said.