PM Shehbaz seeks swift setting up of centres of excellence for gems sector

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed officials to prepare a time-bound plan for building a full value-addition chain in Pakistan's gems sector, spanning extraction, cutting and polishing of gemstones. According to Mettis Global, he chaired a meeting in Islamabad on October 15 to review ways of expanding the industry and its exports, and he voiced frustration that a pilot project was still not ready. He warned that slackness would not be accepted and asked for the plan to reach him as a priority.

Officials told the meeting that 4.8 kanals of land has been handed over in Hussainabad, Skardu, for a centre of excellence, with funding secured and construction likely to begin soon. Potential locations in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and in Islamabad have also been pinpointed, and the Islamabad facility will operate fully from a temporary site until its permanent building is complete. Geological mapping of gem-bearing areas is now finished, and eight fresh blocks have been designated for exploration across Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The current year's Public Sector Development Programme includes Rs1bn for the sector, and exporter help desks are now available at 80 branches of 10 banks across seven cities. The Prime Minister has asked the authorities to return next week with a fuller proposal covering the centres and the wider growth of the sector.