Sindh's industrial units, except for those

concerned with consumer products, were till

mid-2002, closing down either because of the
higher costs of production; the unfavourable
law and order situation; and/or because tax
holidays granted for a certain period were no
longer available. Some investors took
advantage of bank loans and preferred to
declare the units bankrupt so that their debts
would be written off. As a result, an increasing
trend is observable where investors are
switching over from manufacturing to trading or
the services industry.

Sindh State of
Environment &
Development

The strategy for industrialisation in Sindh

promoted the creation of planned industrial
estates and an engineering base. The first
industrial estate to be established was the
Sindh Industrial Trading Estate (SITE) beyond
the Lyari River in Karachi in 1947, which was
meant to be the industrial hub of the country,
not just Sindh. SITE Karachi was provided with
infrastructure such as water, roads and a
sewerage network with the specific condition
that it would be used only if the effluent from the
factories was treated according to the
requirement of the Factories Act of 1934. The
plants and systems put up by industrialists were
not equipped to treat the effluent. It was argued
that this would raise the cost of production.
Instead of rejecting this argument, the state
allowed the industries to pollute the air and
water systems. Industrial estates in Landhi
(1953), Korangi (1959) and North Karachi
townships (early 1970s) were established
subsequently2.

216

The establishment of industries brought about

intensive land-use change, much of which was
not foreseen or planned for. This caused
considerable degradation of the physical
environment. Unlike SITE, Korangi, or Landhi,
in the North Karachi Industrial Estate, space for
small scale and medium size units, and for
building of stores and warehouses was
provided. The managers of these units did not
take into consideration the environmental
degradation that they would cause because of
the high population density.

1.
2.
3.

SITE was not profit-oriented. Plots were allotted

at nominal rates and infrastructure was
provided by the state. The SITE engineer was
authorised
to
allot
land,
provided
entrepreneurs were committed to establish
industries on it. SITE Limited was allowed to
manage its financial affairs without assistance
from the government, or interference from the
bureaucracy. SITE was assigned to establish
other estates in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur,
Kotri, Nooriabad, Nawab Shah, Mirpurkhas,
Khairpur, Tando Adam and other important
towns. As a result, 24 large and small industrial
complexes were established, but the
infrastructure facilities were insufficient and
substandard. Bureaucratic red-tape and later a
poor law and order situation prevented these
sites from developing optimally. Many of them
have remained unoccupied and inactive over
the last decade.
Inadequate infrastructure facilities have
retarded industrial development in the province.
The level of urbanisation in Sindh reflects this.
The ratio of urban to rural population in the
province is 49:51. When 30 percent of the
population becomes urban it suggests a high
threshold of economic development and over
45 percent suggests a take-off stage3. The ratio
for Sindh suggests that the province is at an
advanced stage of development which is not
the case. The population of Karachi,
Hyderabad, and Sukkur combined makes up for
73 percent of the urban population of Sindh.
Moreover, Karachi is the primary city of the
country and the main centre of commercial and
industrial activity. It has a population that is
twice as much as that of the rest of the urban
population of Sindh, which goes to show that
interventions aimed at the dispersal of
industries throughout the province, were a
failure.
Due to the reasons given above, domestic and
foreign investment has not been forthcoming.
The brain drain is a persistent problem as
professionals and entrepreneurs move to
foreign countries. Increasingly insecure capital
is seeking investment abroad.

Agriculture Statistics of Pakistan, 1997-98; Agricultural Statistics of Pakistan 1992-93,1997-98; Development Statistics of Sindh, 1998
Beg , M.A.A. "The New Economic Order, Where do we Stand?" Sindh Tribune, Nov. 1995
Mumford,L. Natural History of Urbanization, in The Ecology of Man: An Ecosystem Approach, R.L. Smith, Harper and Row Publishers,
New York, 1972

Refer to Map 16.1 for the location of Industrial

Estates in Sindh.

THE SERVICE INDUSTRY

The service industry is a key component of
industrial infrastructure at the primary stages. It
caters to the handling of agricultural products at
farm level which includes threshing, storage,
enhancing the shelf life of the products and
freighting. This industry has remained
disorganised and has yet to respond to the
needs of the export market efficiently. This
implies that an awareness of the export market
requirements must be created among the
growers, packers, and forwarding agents. In the
absence of a suitable service industry, the
economy has suffered because exported
commodities do not conform to international
standards.
All cash crops (fruits and vegetables, live
animals, dairy products, and fisheries) and the
minerals of Sindh are usually freighted to the
nearest urban centre where they are processed
on an industrial scale. Small scale processing
industries (rice mills, flour mills, oil expeller units,
power crushers for sugarcane at the farm level,
ginneries) have been established in the
undersized towns as well. Value addition to farm
products at the small town level is picking up
slowly with an improvement in infrastructure
facilities. Establishment of large storage
warehouses, cold storage houses and vegetable
and fruits preservation units facilitate storage of
perishable farm products during the glut period.
4.
5.

PACKAGING INDUSTRY
Over 90,000 tonnes of jute products are
produced in three jute mills in the province.
They provide the Hessian cloth and bags for
packing wheat, rice, millets and other farm
products. Production of cardboard and paper
sacks required for packaging solids or powders
such as cement is carried out in over 15 mills.
Of the units manufacturing paper and pulp in
Pakistan, 20 percent are located in Sindh4.

RICE AND FLOUR MILLS

Over 2 million tonnes of rice and an average of
2.3 million tonnes of wheat per year are
produced in Sindh and generate considerable
industrial activity. Paddy is dehulled and
polished in about 1,200 rice mills (250 in
Larkana, over 700 in Upper Sindh and 250 in
the rest of the province). Wheat and grain crops
are ground in about 126 flour mills in Sindh5, out
of which about 45 to 50 percent are roller flour
mills. Approximately, 50 to 55 percent of the
flour mills are small scale grinders called chakki
that are spread throughout the province and are
found in practically all villages.
Straw from rice, wheat, and other grain crops is
shredded mechanically and utilised as livestock
feed. Rice husk is burnt on the field to drive
away insects that lay their eggs in the soil. It is
also used as fuel in brick kilns near the rice
growing areas.

FARM PRODUCTS
Around 510,000 tonnes of fruit is grown in
Sindh. These include mango, banana, guava,
dates, and citrus fruits. Sindh cultivates onions,
chillies, and tomato which are 40 percent, 81
percent, and 35 percent respectively of the total
production in Pakistan. Fruits and vegetables
are canned and preserved in seven mediumsized units and scores of smaller ones have
mushroomed at the cold storage warehouses

Summary Release of Census of Manufacturing Industries 1995-96, Bureau of Statistics, Planning and Development Department,
Government of Sindh, 2001; Monthly Survey of Industrial Production & Employment in Sindh, June 2001
Development Statistics of Sindh, 1998; Summary Release of Census of Manufacturing Industries 1995-96, Bureau of Statistics, Planning
and Development Department, Government of Sindh, 200; Monthly Survey of Industrial Production & Employment in Sindh, June 2001;
Dawn October 26, 1999 and January 14, 2003

Sindh State of
Environment &
Development

Public sector industries are being privatised

under the Structural Adjustment Programme yet
there has been very little direct foreign
investment in industry. Information technology,
oil and gas, food, tobacco and beverages, are
the only components of the industrial sector that
have received substantial ($50 million USD
each) investments. Massive devaluation has
reduced the return in dollar terms, and
enhanced the cost of plant, machinery and
imported industrial raw materials.

217

and near the fruit and vegetable markets6.

These use metallic cans and plastic bottles for
canning the produce. Packaging materials are
being processed in units which import raw
material for their production.
Onion, chillies, coriander, spices and fresh
vegetables (particularly potato, cauliflower,
cabbage, peas, radish and carrots) and fruits
produced at the farm level have attained the
status of important export commodities. They
have to be adequately packed according to the
requirement of the consignee in the destined
country. Packaging and marketing of these
products is not entirely in the informal sector but
those in the organised sector are faced with
tough competition from the small informal food
production units.

but the associated packaging industry and

forwarding
needs
improvement
since
mishandling of the crops accounts for 15 to 20
percent losses at the post-harvest stage.
Further losses of over 10 to 15 percent occur as
a result of lack of quality control and
maintenance of standards in grading,
preserving, storage and packing.

Livestock Products

Vegetable produce related manufacturing

industry in Sindh accounts for 158,253 tonnes,
out of a total 734,518 tonnes produced in the
country7. Many of these products are exported

The livestock population of over ten million

constitutes a valuable resource but, instead of
exploiting this potential for value addition, the
stock is dispatched as live animals to the

Sindh State of
Environment &
Development

VEGETABLE PRODUCTS

Productivity in the livestock industry is low

because the rangelands which provide 90
percent of the feed to animals have been
degraded by overgrazing, cutting of forage for
fuelwood, and low agricultural production,
particularly during winter. Supplemental feed is
exorbitantly expensive and has to be
transported from different parts of Sindh
through non-metalled roads to the range areas.

Ali Raza Rizvi

218

Sugar mill: An Agro-based industry

6.
7.

Ibid
Development Statistics of Sindh, 1998

Table 16.1: Manufacturing, industrial production and employment

Selected
industries
1998-99

Unit

Factories
Covered

Production

Employment
(in Nos.)

Vegetable ghee

"000" m. tonnes

23

191

1,673

Sugar

"000" m. tonnes

29

1,331

18,969

Cement

"000" m. tonnes

1,945

2,715

Fertilizer (Urea)

"000" m. tonnes

1,397

1,401

Cotton yarn
Cotton cloth
Cigarettes

"000" m. tonnes
million sq. mtrs.
million. nos.

81

35,392

210
85
10,527

1999-2000
Vegetable ghee

"000" m. tonnes

23

187

1,607

Sugar

"000" m. tonnes

29

959

16,022

Cement

"000" m. tonnes

1,915

2,520

Fertilizer (Urea)

"000" m. tonnes

1,423

1,391

Cotton yarn

"000" m. tonnes

81

232

36,548

Cotton cloth

million. sq. mtrs.

CIGARETTES

million. nos.

875

93
2

10,980

Index of industrial production, 1999-2000

(Base : 1980-81 = 100)

824
170.37

Source: Monthly Survey of Industrial Production & Employment in Sindh, June 2001

Sindh has a large number of tanneries that

process raw hides and skins and produce
leather goods for the local as well as the export
market. It has four mills that produce poultry
feed for the local industry. There are five bone
mills that operate under substandard conditions
but provide material for organic fertiliser that is
exported and raw material for the local
production of gelatine.

8.
9.

DAIRY INDUSTRY
The dairy industry is not well organised,
although 32 million tonnes of milk is produced in
the province every year9. This can meet the
need of the population of the entire province,
yet per capita availability is low. The production
system is in the informal sector and its
development along modern lines has often
been resisted. The alternatives in the form of
milk plants have not solved the problems faced
by this sector.

POULTRY INDUSTRY
Raw material for poultry feed is provided by the
agriculture sector, and the feed as well as the

Development Statistics of Sindh, 1998; Monthly Survey of Industrial Production & Employment in Sindh, June 2001; Dr Aslam Pervez
Umrani, Livestock Census and Role of livestock production in economy - Dawn (EBR section), 21 February , 2000
Ibid

Sindh State of
Environment &
Development

nearest market. It is estimated that around

350,000 animals reach Karachi from different
parts of the country during the first ten days of
Eid-ul-Azha. The province does not have a
regular slaughterhouse in any urban centre for
the hygienic production of a range of animal
products. About 1.3 million animals are
slaughtered in improvised slaughterhouses in
Sindh every year8.

219

poultry products need to be processed.

However, it has not attained the status of a
modern consumer products industry.

MEDIUM AND LARGE

SCALE INDUSTRY
Cotton is one of the major fibre crops of Sindh,
which produces over 2.3 million bales each
year. The industries dependent on this crop are
ginning, pressing and textile processing. There
are 154 ginning, pressing and baling mills in
Sindh. Around 2.1 million bales were pressed in
the year 2000. Ginning separates the lint from
cottonseed, which is used by the oil mills for the
production of cottonseed oil and also
hydrogenated ghee. Textile processing is one of
the major industrial activities in Sindh. Out of a
total of 650 textile processing units in Pakistan,
350 are located in the province. These units are
involved in every nature of textile activity
including 95 units that are engaged in the
production of ready made garments10.

Sindh State of
Environment &
Development

Out of the 77 sugar mills in Pakistan, which

produce over 4.2 million tonnes of refined
sugar annually, 32 are located in Sindh11.
Molasses is also extracted in the sugar mills
and from it alcohol is produced. Sindh has only
two of the nine sugar mills in Pakistan that use
molasses to produce alcohol, which is
exported. The sugar industry in Sindh is
plagued by many problems. On the one hand is
the high price of sugarcane, and on the other
hand heavy taxes on the industry and
exorbitant bank charges.

220

The sugar industry in Sindh is one of the most

organised sectors in its institutional
arrangements. Some of the reasons for the
multiplication in the number of sugar mills are
grants of continuous incentives by the
government, establishment of local technology
vendors (heavy mechanical complex in Taxila),
commitment and hard work of mill owners, and
employees, and the progressive roles of the
10.
11.
12.

Pakistan Society of Sugar Technologists

(PSST), and the Pakistan Sugar Mills
Association (PSMA) which provide a forum to
sugar technologists and mill owners to discuss
and share indigenous and international
technological developments in this sector.

VEGETABLE OIL AND

GHEE
Vegetable oil and ghee processing is
categorized under food manufacturing. Rape
and mustard seed, groundnuts, sesame,
sunflower and some coconut is pressed in the
small expellers in urban centres to meet the
local need for edible oil. Cotton seed produced
during ginning is pressed at 14 cottonseed oil
mills. There are 3 that produce only vegetable
oil and 15 medium-sized mills that produce
hydrogenated oils, or vegetable ghee. These
medium-sized units have integrated facilities
for manufacturing soap as a by-product
whereas the main raw material used is raw oil
extracted from different oilseeds. Pakistan
imports about 1 million tonnes of edible oil,
mostly from Malaysia. About 700,000 to
900,000 tonnes is produced locally, of which
Sindh has a share of around 35 percent. The
vegetable oil units were, in the year 20002001, producing an average of 17,000 tonnes
vegetable ghee, 7,500 tonnes of nonhydrogenated cooking oil, and 48 tonnes of
soap. The animal feed producers utilise the
oilseed cake as a source of fibre, oil and
protein12.

TANNING INDUSTRY
The tanning industry is an offshoot of the
livestock sector and of the slaughter houses in
the province. Presently, there are over 596
tanneries in the formal sector in Pakistan and
an equally large number in the informal sector.
Of these, 170 are in Karachi while the other
urban centres of the province are processing

Development Statistics of Sindh, 1998; Summary Release of Census of Manufacturing Industries 1995-96, Bureau of Statistics, Planning
and Development Department, Government of Sindh, 2001; Monthly Survey of Industrial Production & Employment in Sindh, June 2001
Ibid
Agricultural Statistics of Pakistan 1992-93, 1997-98; Development Statistics of Sindh, 1998; Summary Release of Census of
Manufacturing Industries 1995-96, Bureau of Statistics, Planning and Development Department, Government of Sindh, 2001; Monthly
Survey of Industrial Production & Employment in Sindh, June 2001

Sana Raza
A Textile factory: Out of 650 textile processing units in Pakistan, 350 are located in Sindh

PHARMACEUTICALS
There are 43 pharmaceutical manufacturing
units in Sindh which use imported
pharmaceutical
raw
material
and
patented/proprietary medicine, convert it into
the desired form like tablets, liquid syrup,
injection or capsules and market them in
attractive packaging. Indigenous raw material
13.
14.

Ibid
Ibid

and intermediates have not found any

application in the established pharmaceutical
factories. There are three units producing
acids, alkalis, and salts, and eight units
producing paints and varnishes. There are
also 32 units producing miscellaneous
plastics products14.

MINERAL-BASED
INDUSTRY
The mineral sector does not contribute
significantly to the industrialisation of the
province. A number of commercially exploitable
minerals like coal, natural gas, marble,
dolomite, and china clay, have now found
industrial use but, until the 1960s, only
limestone, clay, silica sand and gravel were
being used and that too for the production of
cement, glassware and as building material.
The present contribution of the mining sector to
the GDP is less than one percent, out of which
oil and natural gas has a major share.

Sindh State of
Environment &
Development

leather in the informal sector. For leather

production, locally available raw materials like
hides, skins and imported processing
chemicals, are used. The production of leather
2
was 9.2 million m during the year 2000-2001
with seven recognised footwear industries in
Sindh. Another major product of the livestock
sector is wool for which there are nine woollen
mills engaged in spinning, weaving, and
finishing while the same numbers of units are
engaged in carpet and rugs manufacture13. All
of these are in the formal sector. A flourishing
informal sector in carpet and rugs manufacture
also exists.

221

CEMENT

CHINA CLAY

There are nine cement manufacturing units in

Sindh that are, at present, producing an average
of 150,000 tonnes of cement per month15. The
cement industry is deteriorating below par due
to the excessively high price of furnace oil and
the increased cost of power. These costs can be
reduced substantially through the use of coal.
Coal was being used in this industry as fuel but
a switchover to gas as a clean and easily
available fuel sidelined its use.

Even though Nagarparkar clay is of superior

quality it has not been utilized effectively for the
manufacture of chinaware for the local or the
export market. There are four units in Sindh
producing chinaware and ceramics; 15 units
producing glassware, and one producing sheet
glass18. Many of these units have foreign
franchises and hence use local products only
when they conform exactly to their
requirements, otherwise they prefer to import
the material. China clay from Nagarparkar can
be upgraded to the required level but this is not
allowed by the foreign franchise.

SALT
Salt works on the coast of Karachi were
catering to the requirements of all of Sindh until
the late 1960s, but discharge of municipal and
industrial effluent into the two dry rivers, Lyari
and Malir, contaminated the coastal waters and
the production of salt thereby declined. Six of
the 12 salt works have had to close down
because of these difficulties and also because
one of their major clients producing soda ash (a
requirement for salt extraction), in Karachi, was
forced to close down as a result of financial and
managerial constraints16. The demand-supply
gap has been filled by salt from the Salt Range
in the Punjab.

Sindh State of
Environment &
Development

COAL

222

Coal could contribute substantially to the power

sector but, unfortunately, is not being utilised for
that purpose. The Jamshoro Power Plant,
despite using poor quality coal from Lakhra coal
mines, has demonstrated its utility and
efficiency. Tharparkar coal is mostly lignite
(which means it has a lot of moisture) but the
deposits are the largest in the world with a net
reserve of 185 billion tonnes. A coal deposit of
300 million tonnes is a viable source of 1000
megawatts for 30 years17.

15.
16.
17.
18.
19.

OIL AND GAS DEPOSITS

Details regarding oil and gas deposits have
been given in Chapter - 17: Energy Resources
of Sindh. In addition, the province has deposits
of gas at Mazarani. Extraction from the wells is
likely to commence in about two years.There
are also wells which have, due to the presence
of 10 percent excess carbon dioxide, proved
very useful in the production of fertiliser at two
fertiliser factories in Upper Sindh. These two
units produced 1.387 million tonnes urea and
800,000 tonnes ammonia in the year 2000200119. Yet another unit produces phosphate
fertilisers for which phosphate rock is being
imported from Jordan.
There are also wells which have, due to the
presence of excess carbon dioxide in ten percent
of them, proved very useful in the production of
fertiliser at two fertiliser factories in Upper Sindh.

PAKISTAN STEEL MILLS

Pakistan Steel Mills started operating in 1984,
based on imported coal and imported iron ore. It
produced 700,000 tonnes coke, 1.021 million

Ibid
Beg, M.A.A, Mahmood, S.N. and Yousufzai A.H.K, 1979. Effect of the Polluted Lyari on the Coastal Environment, Proc. National and
Regional Seminar for the Protection of the Marine Environment and Related Eco?Systems, (Karachi, 1979)
Beg, M.A.A. "Energy Production in Pakistan" Dawn (EBR section), February 2001; Pakistan Energy Yearbook, 2000, Hydrocarbon
Development Institute of Pakistan, January 2001
Development Statistics of Sindh, 1998; Summary Release of Census of Manufacturing Industries 1995-96, Bureau of Statistics, Planning
and Development Department, Government of Sindh, 2001; Monthly Survey of Industrial Production & Employment in Sindh, June 2001
Development Statistics of Sindh, 1998; Summary Release of Census of Manufacturing Industries 1995-96, Bureau of Statistics, Planning
and Development Department, Government of Sindh, 2001; Monthly Survey of Industrial Production & Employment in Sindh, June 2001

Tahir Qureshi
Refinery in Korangi Industrial Area, Karachi

AUTOMOBILES
There are 13 plants engaged in the assembly of
automobiles. In the year 2000-2001, they
produced 409 trucks, 555 buses, 471 heavy
vehicles, 9584 light vehicles, 40,267
motorcycles and 33,397 cars21.

EFFECTS OF INDUSTRIAL
UNITS ON THE
ENVIRONMENT
Emissions and Discharges
The units operating in the industrial estates
adequately control emission of noise and the
20.
21.
22.
23.

level recorded at the boundary walls of such

units has not been found to exceed 75 db (A)
during daytime and 70 db (A) during the
night22. In the NEQS, the limit of noise is given
as 85db.
Emission of gaseous pollutants from almost all
the industrial units is not physically controlled; it
remains within allowable limits, except in a few
cases like the unit producing ultramarine blue in
Korangi Industrial Area. The impact of these
pollutants on the ambient air is low.
There is discharge of aqueous effluents from
factories in almost all the units in the SITE
whose quantities by far exceed allowable
limits23. This is especially true of the textile,
tanning and chemical processing industries.
The effluents are discharged into the nearest
nala, which ultimately falls into a river, stream
or the sea or into large ponds. The impact of
uncontrolled discharges on the environment is
destructive. The discharge of effluent from

Ibid
Ibid
Beg, M.A.A. "Status of Noise pollution in Karachi" Report Submitted to EPA by Associated Consulting Engineers, 1994; Beg, M.A.A and
Shams, Z.I. Environmental Problems of Karachi: Noise Pollution due to Vehicular Traffic, 1988
Pakistan Energy Yearbook, 2000, Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan, 2001

Sindh State of
Environment &
Development

tonnes pig iron, 400,000 ton billets, and 941,000

tonnes raw steel in the year 2000-200120.

223