By: Khadija Khan / Mawaiz Khan Akash
Pakistan Textile City is an industrial zone dedicated to the textile processing and related industry. Comprising of a total area of 1250 acres, the estate is located in the Eastern Industrial Zone of Port Qasim Karachi, 6 km from the National Highway. Pakistan Textile City will offer the textile processing industry the desired state-of-the-art environment to achieve cost effective high productivity. The facility will provide uninterrupted power, clean and continuous water supply, natural gas, effluent treatment and efficient transportation systems. Services will be streamlined as a one-window operation and managed in a highly efficient and professional manner. Textile City's location at Port Qasim, a modern port, will facilitate import/export processing and transportation.

BM: What goals you had envisioned for the establishment of your commercial set up, and to what extent you have succeeded in achieving those goals?
Ans: Established in the year 2004 as a public/private J.V., PAKISTAN TEXTILE CITY LIMITED's vision is to develop and operate a world-class industrial zone dedicate to the textile processing industry and project Pakistan as a textile hub synonymous with excellence. Textile city at port Qasim Karachi is the first mega project of our firm and is going to have a far -reaching impact on the export potential of the local textile industry.
The objectives of our project are; creating state of the art infrastructure for the textile industry compliant with intl. Standards, attract local and foreign investment, provide synergistic environment to encourage vertical integration, boost exports of value added textiles, provide direct employment opportunities for around 80,000 people and indirect employment for more during construction. Since taking over possession of 1250 acres of industrial land in March 2007, textile City has come a long way and crossed the following milestones in pursuit of its corporate objectives. For example, Master Plan approval from PQA, EIA Approval from E.P.A., Govt. of Sindh, Leveling and Grading works (nearing completion) power plant consultant appointed for 250MW power plant projects, M/s NEC appointed as CEPT Consultant for 16 MGC CEPT, Commencement of Dedicated 20 MGD Water Pipeline from KW & SB, Start of construction of Priority roads and Admin building and final stage of award of 20 MG Water Reservoir construction package.

BM: What is your company's role in promoting the commerce and trade sector?
Ans: Textile is Pakistan's largest industry. The absence of reliable infrastructure offering uninterrupted utilities has been one of the major causes in the continuous decline of exports of textile products especially value-added items in post-WTO era. As mentioned earlier Textile City is being established as the bench -mark industrial zone, which would offer word -class infrastructure to valued-added textile sectors such as weaving, denim, towels, hosiery, knitwear, apparel and bed linen. Once fully operation, it would help increase our exports significantly as more than 277 new units will be established in Textile City, spread over an area of 1250 acres.
Moreover, it would provide the ideal synergistic platform local textile players to join hands with international partners to establish joint venture units and benefits from strategically located facilities in Port Qasim. Chinese, Turkish and Korean businesses have already been shown keen interest in our project due to its location, world-class infrastructure and synergistic one-window concept.

BM: Is government playing any significant role for the promotion of business, exclusively in same sector, you are focusing?
Ans: Government is very serious for the sustainable development of this sector at textile sector is generating more than 58% of total export earning and provide jobs to about 40% of workforce. As far as the infrastructure is concerned, the progress of our project is one of the examples of the government's commitment for the growth of textile industry. Establishment of Garment City projects in Faisalabad, Lahore and Karachi are also steps in that direction. With the help of internationally renowned consultant GHERZI a comprehensive textile Policy is being shaped up, after taking all Stakeholders on board, by Ministry of Textile industry and it is expected to be finalized and announced soon. Recently the government has supported the introduction of BT cotton production in Pakistan. This will definitely has a far-reaching impact on our cotton supply and is likely to ease its prices.

BM: What are the root causes of declining impression in the international markets, for the Pakistan products, can we ascribe it to adulteration, unoriginal products, low quality or quantity, and how these malpractices can be prevailed over?
Ans: If you take a close look at the recent figures, there has been a 6% decline in textile exports in Jan-July period alone. In my view the root causes of declining exports and shrinking markets for our export items are; quality of our cotton 9which is more than 70% of total cost), low emphasis on skill development and training of workers, resulting in significant loss, low emphasis on energy conservation, absence of soft skills and qualified teams in international marketing, focus on selling at lowest price rather than going for value-addition. Having said that, one can still find few Pakistani textile players who have overcome these weak areas and have successfully established their brands in major textile markets like EU and USA.

BM: Would you kindly pinpoint the hurdle and bottlenecks in the development of your sector?
Ans: The textile sector is in turmoil due to various reasons. Firstly, our supply chain is not in good shape. The cotton supply is beset with issues such as inconsistent supply; high levels of contamination, lowest per hectare yield in the region and a sharp drop in the cultivation are of cotton. From 15 million bales we have now come down to 11.5 million in last few years. Secondly, the cost of ding business has risen in the past few years, High mark - up on commercial loans and significant increase in cost of utilities such power, gas, water and fuel have brought down the margins of textile businesses. The issue of cross-subsidy in gas-prices to other sectors such as fertilizers is also a cause of concern to the textile industry. Thirdly, the absence of a dependable infrastructure exclusively for the industry. The industry has been suffering heavily from power and gas outages. There is no dedicated Effluent Treatment Plant for textile industries even in the hubs such as Karachi and Faisalabad. This where a project like Textile City offers the complete integrated environment and all facilities in one place. Fourthly, lack of development and training of our semi-skilled and skilled workforce. Although the Ministry has taken various initiatives in this regard, specially with the help of USAID, al large sector of textile labour has yet to benefit from such programs. Lastly, a lock of emphasis by the local textile industry on developing new markets and brands for their products. We must learn from China, India and Bangladesh, who are consistently developing new clients and using latest technologies to enter into new areas like geo textile and technical textiles. In contrast our industry, still focuses on exporting greige cloth and cotton yarn instead high-value products.

BM: Whether Pakistan's economy is advancing ahead or retreating backslide, if it is retreating; how it can be stopped, and what steps could be taken ahead?
Ans: This is too extensive and important a topic and major subject unto itself, I would prefer to focus on answering the textile infrastructure related questions.

BM: Would you kindly shed the light on your future plans, the strengthening and advancing of your business?
Ans: At present we are focusing on a two-pronged strategy to meet our target for the commercial launch of the project for industrial plots in this year. Firstly, we are active in increasing the pace of infrastructure development at Textile City. Development packages such as construction of Admin Building, priority access roads and water works (including reservoir) have already started. A contract for Consultancy services for designing of CEPT (Combined Effluent Treatment Plant) has also been awarded. A dedicated water pipeline is being laid down by KW & SB. With the development of phase gathering speed, we are actively finalizing the Allotment Policy and Byelaws. The allotment Policy will outline a strict criteria for the applicants so that only committed serious minded businesses establish their manufacturing units within a given time period in textile city and avail its world -class infrastructure to meet their business targets. Moreover, we are establishing a professional cross-functional team to facilitate our valued clients through a One-Window facility.

BM: What message would you like to communicate to the businessmen, educated and professionals of your country?
Ans: Pakistan is a land of opportunities. We are blessed with natural resources, unique geo-political locations, a rich history of textile and cheap labour. It is a fact that our textile industry is beset with enormous challenges right now. But I strongly believe that if we are united, focused and perform our individual role in the value-chain with dedication and sincerity there is not an iota of doubt in my mind that we can bring prosperity to our country and establish Pakistan as a hub of quality textile products. Textile City is soon going to be a reality allowing our textile entrepreneurs to focus on developing skills in manufacturing and marketing of their quality products rather than worrying about basic needs such as water supply, uninterrupted power supply and security.  mawaiz.khan@businessmonitorpk.com