Questions for Oral Answers and Their Replies”
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1 (35th Session) NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SECRETARIAT ————— “QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWERS AND THEIR REPLIES” to be asked at a sitting of the National Assembly to be held on Monday, the 17th October, 2011 (Originally Starred Question Nos. 8, 14 and 15 were set down for answer during the 34th Session) 8. *Sheikh Salahuddin: Will the Minister for Textile Industry be pleased to state: (a) the steps taken during the year 2010-11 for development of Textile Industry; and (b) the achievements gained therefrom so far? Minister for Textile Industry (Makhdoom Shahabuddin): (a) During the financial year 2010-11, Ministry of Textile Industry initiated various scheme for the promotion and development of Textile Industry, which involves short term and long term initiative, these are indicated as under; i. Financial Support Measures ii. Human Resource Development Schemes iii. Infrastructure Development Schemes I. Financial Support Measures In order to compensate the cost of production, the Govt. has provided financial support to the Textile Sector under different schemes, which are as under, • Export Finance Mark-Up Rate Facility 2 • Mark-up Rate Support • Drawback of Local Taxes & Levies • Refund of Past R&D Claims • Monetization of PTA During financial Year 2010-11, an amount of Rs. 7.5 billion has been disbursed under these schemes. Disbursement of funds under these schemes is directly handled by State Bank of Pakistan. ii. Human Resource Development Schemes Govt. has initiated following schemes in order to cover up the gap of skilled human resource. • International Labour Organization (ILO) Women Workers Training Program was executed in collaboration with International Labour Organization (ILO) and Ministry of Labour & Manpower. Through this Program, 600 women workers were trained in Karachi, Lahore & Faisalabad. • Stitching Machine Operators Training (SMOT) Stitching Machine Operators Training (SMOT) Program was launched in the last quarter of 2008. It is being run in various textile units of Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad & Rawalpindi. Under this phase 1242 persons have been trained out of which 1187 have been appointed by the units concerned. * A comprehensive scheme of training of 5 lac skilled workers has been prepared which would cost Rs. 5 billion. Scheme is in finalization process. • Establishment of Garment Technology Institute Garment Technology Training Centre is being established in Karachi in collaboration with Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). Institute is likely to be inaugurated in December, 2011. 3 iii. infrastructure Development Schemes To support the textile industry value chain, the Ministry has initiated following schemes: i. Faisalabad Garment City, revised total cost of the project is Rs.573.53 million. 90% work of the project has been done and the project will be completed in June, 2012) ii. Pakistan Textile City, is spread over 1250 acres in the vicinity of Port Qasim, Karachi. The sale of plots has been started. iii. Stitching Machine Operators Training (SMOT) Program. iv. Pak-Korea Garment Technology Institute is a Rs. 300 million project with assistance of KOICA. This project will help to produce trained human resource for the garments and fashion industry. Institute is likely to be inaugurated Oct. 2011. v. Lahore Garment City Company, total revised cost of LGCC is Rs.586.88 million.90% work of the project has been done and the project will be completed in December, 2011. (b) • Textile exports have risen to $13.907 billion which is 34.53% over and above the last year. • Financial support schemes provided some relief to textile exports in reducing cost of production to make exports competitive in international markets. • Employment opportunities are generated. 14. *Mr. Mohammad Pervaiz Malik: Will the Minister for Housing and Works be pleased to state: (a) whether it is fact that the housing schemes launched during the last three years for the Federal Government employees have not been completed so far; if so, the reasons thereof; 4 (b) whether it is also a fact that huge amount had been paid by those employees in such schemes; if so, the details thereof alongwith the utilization of such amount at present; (c) whether it is further a fact that certain malpractices and embezzlement had been reported in the execution of such schemes, if so, the detail thereof alongwith action taken against the responsibles; and (d) the steps being taken to execute such schemes in letter and spirit? Reply not received. 15. *Raja Muhammad Asad Khan: Will the Minister for Textile Industry be pleased to state: (a) the loss suffered by Textile Industry due to gas laodshedding in the country particularly in the Punjab province; and (b) the steps taken so far to overcome the said loss? Minister for Textile Industry (Makhdoom Shahabuddin): (a) (1) Gas load shedding for textile sector in Punjab is two days per week. There are careful estimates that potential production impact is between 30-35% loss of textile manufacturing meant for exports across the value chain. (2) Ministry has taken up this matter with relevant authorities. It is stated that since there is an over all shortage of gas and electricity in the country, so all the sector of economy are to feel the affect of this shortfall. However relevant authorities have assured Ministry of Textile Industry that textile sector will be accommodated in every possible way so that minimum effect of this shortage is felt by the textile sector. (b) As above. 5 @70. *Mrs. Shagufta Sadiq: Will the Minister for Production be pleased to state: (a) the year-wise ratio of increase made in per ton price of iron in the country during the last four years till date; and (b) the steps being taken to control the price of iron? Minister for Production (Mr. Anwar Ali Cheema): (a) The year wise ratio of increase/decrease made in price of the steel products of Pakistan Steel during last four years is as under :— —————————————————————————————— 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 —————————————————————————————— +73.54% -27.58% +35.70% +9.18% —————————————————————————————— The year wise ratio of increase/decrease made in cost of products of Pakistan Steel is as under :— (% increase) —————————————————————————————— Year Finished Cast Rolled H.R C.R Galvenized Slab Billet Billet Coil/Sheet Coil/Sheet Production ———————————————————————————————————————— 2007-08 47 44 44 39 36 27 2008-09 197 189 197 170 158 121 2009-10 138 137 146 124 128 111 2010-11 170 163 — 158 167 152 —————————————————————————————— Reasons: Price of raw material e.g iron ore, coking coal and ferroalloys for producing steel. as well as freight charges for shipping are continuously on the increase in international market. Further the depreciation of rupee against US Dollar, increase in utility charges (electricity, water. gas fuel) and the increase in the wages of employees have also contributed to the increase of production cost. (b) Steps are being taken to increase the share of Pakistan Steel in the steel market by expansion of the mill. Further, efforts for using local iron ore in Pakistan Steel Mills are being taken on fast track basis. All these steps will ultimately reduce per ton cost of production. —————————————————————————————— @ Transferred from Industries Division. 6 71. *Mr. Muhammad Riaz Malik: Will the Minister for Housing and Works be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that the Prime Minister announced to give houses on ownership basis to the homeless persons of the country at the beginning of tenure of his government; (b) if so, the total number of such houses constructed/allotted during the last four financial years till date; and (c) the criteria and procedure adopted for the allotment of houses to those persons? Minister for Housing and Works (Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat): (a) Yes, Prime Minister has announced in his first speech on National Assembly floor for launching of schemes for homeless citizens and government employees. (b) Under the Prime Minister’s Housing Program PHA has constructed apartments for Low-paid FG employees (BPS 1-16) and general public too. These apartments have been sold on ownership basis in Islamabad and Lahore till now. Detail are as follows: —————————————————————————————— Sr. No. Project Type Eligibility No. of Apartments ———————————————————————————————————————— 1. G-10/2 Isb. D BPS 11-16 272 D Gen. Public 96 2. G-11/3 Isb. E BPS 1-10 400 C Gen. Public 208 3. I-11/3 Isb. D Gen. Public 104 4. Wafaqi Colony Lhr. D BPS-11-16 30 Gen. Public 30 E BPS-1-16 30 Gen. Public 30 5. Shabbir Town Lahore B Gen. Public 32 6. Wafaqi Colony Lahore Executive Gen. Public 60 Apartments ———————————————————————————————————————— 7 —————————————————————————————— Sr. No. Project Type Eligibility No. of Apartments ———————————————————————————————————————— 7. Wafaqi Colony Lahore D Gen. Public 16 8. Wafaqi Colony Lahore E 08 ———————————————————————————————————————— Total: 1316 ———————————————————————————————————————— (c) The main criteria fixed for housing scheme is as under: • only those federal government employees were eligible to apply who had minimum 40 years of age. • minimum 10 years of service. • Submission of option forms in PHA stating Isiamabad or Lahore as first option city in the housing schemes launched in Islamabad or Lahore. PHA invited option forms from all federal government employees to evaluate the requirement of land and possibility of accommodating the applicants according to their preference of city. Detail of option forms received is as under: —————————————————————————————— Sr.