Lasbela Chamber for treating mining, mineral industries separately

KARACHI: President Lasbela Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Ismail Suttar has urged the government to treat mining and minerals industry separately in recently established special investment council.

He also urged the government and military leadership to include Minerals to Chemicals, a sector of investment in this esteemed council.

He was certain that it will be proved to be fruitful in the years to come.

Ismail states that Pakistan is blessed with bounty of 92 minerals but unfortunately, they are being wasted away in exports while our neighbouring countries are making a fortune from its value addition.

He feared that all the reserves will exhaust soon as it seems by the swiftness in exploitation and exporting of raw material. It is necessary that we create mineral value-addition in the country to marginalize the export of raw material and introduce new chemical products in the export market.

A single mineral beneficiation can cater at least ten chemicals’ industries as a raw feedstock material that will be used in hundreds of end-user applications.

A single industry will create hundreds and thousands of employment opportunities and will be a cause of major import substitution, as well as, export enhancement.

President LCCI shed light on his own work that Lasbela Chambers is working on multiple mineral value-addition processes under Minerals to Chemicals Committee and is under way of the establishment of its first novel project in Pakistan.

Moreover, with a joint collaboration with Trade Development Authority of Pakistan the committee has drafted a proposal for Pakistan’s largest functional Minerals processing research lab, but the chamber is struggling with many bureaucratic hurdles for its investment, says Ismail.

He further elaborates that if we wish to get out of this economic turmoil and trade deficit then we must first cut down our import consumption of chemicals, and then produce these chemical products locally.

The special investment council is a light for business community in these dark times when we are trying to control the production cost to meet the local and international market requirements.

He appreciated the government and the military leadership for taking a major step for the revival of Pakistan’s economy and hoped that the management will take into account the request made by LCCI for incorporating minerals to chemicals sector in the investment council, as well as, involve private sector to bring the project to accomplishment.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023