PHSADC acquires building for establishment of CFTC

Pakistan Hunting and Sporting Arms Development Company (PHSADC) have acquired a building in small industrial estate, Kohat Road, Peshawar for Common Facilitation & Training Centre (CFTC) project of the company. PHSADC is establishing a state of the art "Common Facility Training Center (CFTC)" for the up-gradation of hunting and sporting arms manufacturing industry of Peshawar and Darra Adam Khel. This CFTC will be the first of its kind in country's history, equipped with latest machinery and equipment's specifically according the needs of hunting and sporting arms manufacturing industry of Pakistan.
PHSADC is a sector development company established in 2006 as a subsidiary of PIDC, Ministry of Industries and Production, Government of Pakistan. The company is solely mandated to upgrade the hunting & sporting arms and allied products produced in Pakistan and make this industry a profitable revenue generator through exports. From its establishment, the company has taken several revolutionary steps for the growth of this sector and matured multiple export orders from USA and European markets.
The KPK Province of Pakistan, especially Peshawar and Darra Adam Khel, have a century-long rich heritage of manufacturing hunting and sporting arms. The artisans of Peshawar and DAK are world famous for their majestic skills of handmade gun smiting. The Peshawar cluster comprises of more than 60 registered manufacturing SMEs, mostly located inside small industrial estate of Kohat Road, while some of these units are scattered around main GT Road Peshawar. These units employ nearly 4,000 direct workforces whereas in Darra Adam Khel 80% of the total population is employed in this sector.
In order to explore potential and become a player in international trade of hunting and sporting arms & accessories industry, PHSADC conducted various studies on this sector which revealed multiple problems and weaknesses. There was no concept of quality/ standardisation, CAD/CAM, use of special purpose machines, engineering drawings, Dies, jigs and fixtures and majority of manufacturers were confined to hand crafting which limited the volume of consistent production.
The industry lacks the properly educated and skilled human resource to adopt latest manufacturing technologies. Because of unavailability of educated technical personnel, gun makers are using ancient methods of gun smiting which is very old and time consuming. Moreover, the quality and reliability of locally produced firearms is another important issue. Absence of modern technology and manufacturing facilities like barrel making machines, High precision CNC machines and other precision conventional & non-conventional machines was a major impediment in local firearm production sector.
Those who were educated and willing to adopt the modern technologies are handicapped due to financial limitations as the installation of such machinery demands heavy investment which is not affordable for an individual firearms manufacturer.
To address the persisting issues of local firearms manufacturing cluster it was strongly recommended that there should be a Common Facility and Training Center, for the needs of local cluster regarding manufacturing of globally competitive products on both basis "economic and quality". On the ground of these issues, PHSADC prepared a PC-I for a Common Facility & Training Center"(CFTC) and was submitted to Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) amounting PKR 57.694 million which was duly approved by PIDC and the fund is released in this year. The CFTC project was initiated in year 2011-2012, but due to non-availability of PHSADC's board, the project has not been implemented as envisaged. In 2015 the Company's board was re-structured and the new Chairman Zahid Ullah Shinwari took the special interests and put his efforts to pace up the progress on the project.
The CFTC is designed to cater down the weaknesses of local hunting and sporting arms manufacturing units and full fill demands of international markets. The project will also help in improving the working conditions of work force by improving their manufacturing skills hence providing them better earnings.
The project will not only generate the revenue by exports but will also encourage the local buyers to trust on Pakistan made firearms which will ultimately reduce the importation. The CFTC will help in attracting more potential investors to set SME's which will generate employment opportunities for local public.