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Govt to push to forefront Smeda units as engines of growth

TAHIR DHINDSA

ISLAMABAD: The government on Wednesday decided to push textile, fisheries, agro-based industry and marble industry as engine of growth by public intervention through Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (Smeda).

Pushing small and medium industry to the forefront is one of the four cornerstones of current government's economic policy. In the light of that Smeda had been working on preparing a basic map of strategy in the sector.

Official sources said it is an ongoing process and government will make Smeda's recommendations operational by June 2000, before the next budget.

The decision was taken in a meeting here chaired by finance Minister Shaukat Aziz and attended by the commerce minister, after a senior delegation of Smeda from Lahore gave a detailed presentation.

With the new government in seat, Smeda operations had become slow and the government had asked the organisation to consider the sectoral allocations of loans granted to the interested parties for setting up of new ventures.

Since emphasis has been slightly shifted to new sectors the government has asked to prepare a comprehensive packaging paper for the government's intervention in industry.

The government has also asked Smeda to constitute the board of stakeholders. As a first step, the federal government has started the restructuring of Smeda to suit the present requirements.

Another important step, which the federal government has to take before making the scheme functional, is drafting the cover law.

The law will be initially drafted by Smeda and will later on be vetted by the Law Division.

In Wednesday's meeting basic objectives behind the law were discussed. They were safety of capital and ensuring transparency in procedures.

After the Smeda law is prepared, the federal government will make budgetary allocation for the scheme.