Institutional and Infrastructure Support

National Productivity Organization (NPO) will provide a permanent platform for
cultivating awareness and leadership training in Six Sigma, TQM and APQP. It will expand its programme for workshops on quality and productivity enhancement so as to inculcate quality culture.

The Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PS&QCA) will be reinforced
and similar authorities will be established at the provincial level under its auspices. ThePakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR), Plastic Technology Center (PTC), Pakistan Industrial Training and Advisory Centre (PITAC) and Automotive Testing and Training Centre (AT&TC) will be made more productive, focused and industryoriented.

While the ISO 9000 and 14000 certification process has been going on for several
years,, the use of Urdu on the shop floor and in Quality Manuals can go a long way in
spreading productivity and quality in industry.

An essential aspect of technological up-gradation requires focus on engineering
design, and modeling for quality & reliability. Greater use of computerization in businesses,CAD/CAM, industrial instrumentation and controls, are in high demand to warrant addition of these subjects in Universities and becoming a regular feature of their Business Units.

With a view to promoting R&D activities, government will expand universityindustry
linkages, provide income tax relief on R&D expenditures; income tax exemption on
donations; weighted tax deductions for sponsored research programmes; accelerated
depreciation on local technology-based plant and machinery; customs duty exemptions for R&D institutions; and national awards for outstanding R&D achievements and
commercialization.

New industrial sites and clusters that are fully serviced with world-class quality of
infrastructure, telecommunication services and utilities, will be developed to introduce the culture of ‘reduce, reuse, and recycle’. Common Facility Centers (CFCs) have been established in the country in several sectors to provide access to new processes and technologies and as a trigger for further innovation.

It is estimated that Pakistan could save up to 16.5 percent of the cost of exports by
improving its trade and transport logistics systems. An additional all-weather road length of 80 thousand kilometres will need to be developed with focus on inter-connecting roads to the less-privileged rural areas to accomplish the objective of industrial development.

Major investment will be required to strengthen railways transportation capacity
through quantitative and qualitative improvement in rolling stock, revamping of signaling and modernization of communication systems. Involvement of private sector, even without complete privatization, has potential for improving efficiency and investment in railways.

Efficiency of port operations in Pakistan has remained low. According to a study, the
freight handling costs at the ports in Karachi and Qasim are 20 percent more expensive compared with modern regional ports, because of excessive cargo handling charges and low labour productivity. In an effort to cut the port handling charges and make them more competitive, the system will need to be modernized and procedures streamlined and simplified.