Two important projects — one for the manufacture of machine tools and another for trucks — have already been finally approved by the Policy Board for Heavy Industries, and it was confirmed that the ultimate aim is the establishment of a large engineering complex.

The machine tool project will mark the beginning of the complex at which will be manufactured a substantial portion of machinery and equipment for large industries such as cement factories, sugar mills, fertiliser plants etc. The cost of the complex has been estimated at about Rs26 crores.

A team of experts from Germany is currently visiting the country to study the existing conditions for preparing projects for the manufacture of marine diesel engines and tools for inland water transport and other requirements in East Pakistan, as also for providing adequate dry-docking, boat-building and ship repairs facilities and for the exploitation of recent finds of coal and limestone in the province.—Special Representative

Another bullion fall KARACHI: The collapse of gold prices in India after the Sino-Indian crisis has also affected gold rates in Karachi and other parts of West Pakistan, according to gold dealers.

While in Bombay the gold prices have fallen by Rs47 per tola, in Karachi, the price of gold has dropped by Rs14 a tola within this month.

The tola price in Karachi early this month was Rs132 per tola, but it came down to Rs 118 per tola yesterday, the lowest in recent years. —Staff Correspondent