The Director-General of Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA), Abdul Waheed, has taken charge to assert that the government must follow global practices if it is laying out new standards for the industry. He also urged the government to follow the footsteps of India and Malaysia in setting up automotive institutes. These will help in fostering Research and Development (R&D) in the country.
He also criticized the quality control government wing, Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA):
“Government needs to provide sustainable quality conformance and upgrade PSQCA testing facilities to supplement support to the national economy, which to date PSQCA has failed to build.”
The DG of PAMA has appreciated the efforts of the government in controlling illegal imports of used cars and misuse of gift and baggage schemes. This will ultimately help to make the auto sector more efficient and bring it in conformance to the law.
The local auto industry gets affected by the import of cars from abroad. Sales of spare parts that are manufactured locally, also get adversely affected. He is also against the idea of including used car dealers in PSQCA meetings as they are not engaged in the local manufacturing of automobiles.
To underscore the importance of the local auto industry, the DG also stated that around 3 million direct and indirect workers are engaged in this sector. This makes it one of the largest manufacturing industries in Pakistan. According to him, local auto manufacturers have tried to localize their operations with each model change.
“Localization has helped establish a local engineering base in the country and transfer of technology, strengthening the SMEs and open doors for exports. To date, the auto industry has enabled about 100 technical agreements for the transfer of technology.”
The Minister for Science and Technology, Fawad Chauhdry, proclaimed that the government wants the country to merge into a standard mandatory regime. Standards will be set for all the major manufacturing industries including the auto and electronics sectors. The DG of PAMA wants the government to go for European standards of quality as they will help the local auto sector more as compared to “Pakistani Standards”. Conforming to European standards will boost the export potential of the local auto sector.
Stay tuned for more interesting content like this one and drop your thoughts in the comments section below.
