FAISALABAD: Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) President Chaudhary Muhammad Nawaz said that construction of Kalabagh Dam and other dams to meet its future needs of water and electricity.
He was addressing a seminar on “Best Water Management Practices for Textile and Sugar Industry.”
The seminar was organized by World Wide Fund Pakistan (WWF-P) in collaboration with Cleaner Production Institute (CPI) at FCCI here today.
He said that textile is the brand name of Pakistan and Faisalabad is dominated by the textile industry with a visible dominance of textile processing along with other up and down stream venders.
He said that in present age each process is financially evaluated to make it economically profitable. He said that if this water intensive process is completed with minimum water it will reduce the cost of doing business and hence we have to introduce such practices in this sector.
He thanked WWF-P for selecting FCCI to hold this workshop which will not only benefit the textile industry but also bring a qualitative improvement in the overall environment of the city. He assured that FCCI will continue to cooperate with world wide fund to organize similar awareness seminars on various topics of mutual interest. He also welcomed the proposal to set up WWF office in Faisalabad and offered space for it on third floor of FCCI complex.
Vice President FCCI Chaudhary Jameel Ahmed said that every year 30 million acre feet water is wasted to sea because of absence of enough reservoirs in the country. He suggested that WWF-P might have collaborative arrangement with FCCI for promoting the sustainable water use and water stewardship for small and medium industries of Faisalabad.
Dr. Masood Arshad, Director Climate, Energy and Water, WWF-Pakistan briefly explained the aims and objectives of this organization and told that an office of WWF will be established very soon in Faisalabad because of its importance in overall economy of Pakistan. He hoped that this proposed office will become functional very soon and more seminars would be organized to save environment in this mega city. He said that water resources are depleting at a much faster pace and Pakistan is moving from water stressed country to water staved country and this situation has necessitated immediate measures to saving this precious natural asset.
Senior Project Officer WWF-Pakistan Sohail Ali Naqvi told that Best Water Management Practices (BWMP) project was originally launched in Lahore for SME sector. It proved very successful and now we are going to introduce it in Faisalabad which has large numbers of SMEs. He told that 35 SME units have been selected to educate about the efficient use of available water.
Director Cleaner Production Institute (CPI) Shafqtullah said that most of textile processing units are already taking necessary measures to use minimum water.
However,this awareness session will give them an opportunity to fine tune their existing water related processes. He told that data of 35 units using best water management practices is being compiled and will be published as a report during the month of December.