KARACHI - Planning Commission (PC) has constituted working group on engineering goods industry for the preparation of 10th 5-year plan 2010-15. Former Chairman SITE and Chairman WTO Standing Committee FPCCI Engr M A Jabbar has been nominated as Chairman of the working group. The other members from HMC Texila, HEC Hattar, FPCCI, PAAPAM, PAMA, PEMA, ECMA and others representing basic metals industry and engineering services have been included in the working group. The meeting was held in Islamabad the other day in which sub-sectors of engineering goods industry were assigned to the groups formed during the meeting. The sub-sectors of basic metals, metal products, mechanical equipment and machinery, electrical / electronic equipment and machinery, transport equipment and engineering services were allocated to the different working groups for providing the inputs for incorporation in the structuring of 10th 5-year plan 2010-15. The member of the Planning Commission advised Engr. MA Jabbar that an approach for indigenisation and exploitation of the domestic potential should be the way forward to include the home grown capacity to manufacture parts for the power generation projects. He said that Pakistan must move to have the technology and industrial based investigation centres to manufacture turbines, generators and parts for power projects which are upcoming in many numbers to target the requirement of future. He said that Planning Commission will provide all the support to the suggestions by the group if are valued for on fast track rolling by the lead ministries with the help of PC. He assured Engr. MA Jabbar that the suggestions by practitioners are considered to be more on merits of the practice. Dr Samar Mubarakmand who is a Pakistani nuclear scientist and the founding Chairman of Pakistans National Engineering and Scientific Commission said that we must move to the development of capital goods and machinery in home so that the cost of manufactured merchandise is competitive against imports and as well as help to reckon Pakistan as better competitor of similar products in overseas markets. The eleven terms of reference (TORs) have been proposed for the group to consolidate views. Accelerating foreign investment and industrial sector, special measures for development of backward areas, review of the existing policies related to industrial growth, training needs, strategy for local manufacture of turbines and generators for power sector, impediments in technology transfer, establishing linkage between industry and academia on sustainable basis, hurdles in marketing and exports, improving competitiveness of homemade manufactured merchandise, suggest policy intervention and tariff and financing area are the key TORs. Managing Director of HMC Texila Muhammad Ashraf Butt said that the arguments on the economy of scale by certain foreign countries to block indigenous development and import substitution in case of manufacturing of engine parts does not sustain. He said that way back Pakistan Machine Tool Factory had developed transmission parts but we are still importing the said parts for the vehicle manufacturing industry. The participants discussed about the gap between present electrical installation megawatts and the targets for 2030 vision asking to develop 150,000 MWs. The discussion laid to a conclusion that Pakistan must develop the capacity to integrate its indigenisation with the power sector development. On the face of the imports for power sector requirements, Pakistan needs two trillion US Dollars upto 2030 to have 150K MWs.