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Industrial restructuring corpn draft law ready

ISLAMABAD: The government has framed a draft law to setup Corporate and Industrial Restructuring Corporation (CIRC) which will be functional by April, official sources at the Finance Ministry said here on Friday.

"The Draft Law on CIRC has been prepared and discussed and the Government is now having consultations with banks and financial institutions," the sources told APP

It may be recalled that the Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf had announced to set up the CIRC while unveiling the Economic Revival Programme in December last.

The CIRC will help revive sick industrial units and in cases where rehabilitation is not possible, the new corporation will ensure early liquidation.

The sources said that the CIRC will be functional well before the budget, indicating that it is expected to be in place by April.

Responding to a question, the sources said that any unit which, as per law becomes sick, will be a candidate to be taken up for consideration by the CIRC. "There are a number of considerations in this respect."

"We have not yet made a portfolio of sick units but major cases will be dealt with at first," the sources said.

Most of the sick units are from the textile sector, along with Cement, Sugar, Engineering and others.

The sources, to a question said, the exact blueprint of the CIRC is not yet finalised as a number of models are being discussed for the purpose.

To another question, the sources observed that those units which have already been declared sick by the Task Force on Revival of Sick Units, and are in the process of being restructured, will not be entertained by the CIRC.

To answer a question, the sources said, the industrial activities have already picked up pace and with the revival of sick units, it will get further impetus.

In the first six months the large scale manufacturing has recorded a significant growth of 8.7 percent as against that of 2.4 percent registered in the same period last year, the sources added.

"There was a textile boom this year and according to authentic reports some 500,000 Spindles have come under production due to buoyant market," the sources said.

Moreover, the sources said, the good crops this season has helped to erase pressure on prices and the inflation is estimated to remain within 5 percent this year.

To a question, the sources said, due to some crisis, the cotton growers could not get the due benefits of the bumper crop, adding, the government will announce the cotton policy soon, which will protect interests of both the ginners as well as those related to textile sector.

Similarly, the sources said, in order to give incentives to growers, the government has enhanced the wheat support prices and country is expected to achieve upto 19.5 million tonnes of wheat production this year. APP