Swat marble factories faced with closure

Long power outages in the Swat region threatens work in the marble industry.

SWAT: Swat Marble Association has threatened to shut down the industry due to the continuous and long-hours of power outages which has caused huge losses to the owners.

The Swat Valley is rich in mineral resources and most of them belong to family 10 in the periodic table of elements which is an internationally recognised standard and proves the worth of these minerals.

White and green marble of high quality is particularly famous with large reserves found in Saidu Sharif, Spal Bandai, Khadag, Ghaligay, Parrai, Malam Jabba and Ghakhi Kandaw. Swati marble is considered to be more durable and lustrous than the marble found in other parts off the country.

But continuous loadshedding has not only paralysed the industry but has also brought it to the brim of collapse.

Haji Fazal Manan, President of Swat Marble Association told The Express Tribune, “Marble Industry in Swat has been facing problems first with the insurgency now with the continuous power breakdowns. During the insurgency we became bankrupt but by taking loans we supported our industry but no support was extended to us from the government.”

“We are being continuously targeted by the department of environment as well but we have tried to sustain industry. We also used to export
marble worth millions from Swat to other parts of the country but now we cannot afford to.” He added.

“The continuous power outages lasting as much as 16 hours has caused the closure of dozens of industries and left more than 3,500 workers unemployed. Daily 25 to 30 trucks used to travel to other parts of the country earning up to 5 million but now hardly five to eight trucks are sent.” said Issa Khan, General Secretary of the Association.

Blaming the department of environment he said, “The environment department is also causing problems although we are running our industry according to the specified
rules and we also paid heavy electricity bills despite announcements made by prime minister and president to remit utility bills. Even after those announcements Wapda deliberately issued heavy bills with the gift of low-voltage.”

But when the officials of the Wapda were contacted they denied this saying, “Supply of power is not just a Swat
problem but it is across the country due to the shortfall. The schedule is issued from NPP and we just follow it.”

Mohammad Amin, a worker in a marble industry whil talking to The Express Tribune, “I made Rs700 as wages this month because of this frequent power shutdowns, now tell me, what can I do with this sum of money, what will I buy for my family of 7 persons. I feel I have no choice but to get a loan or resort to something illegal to feed my family.”

“We have no other option but to shut down the industry and come out on the roads for agitation if the issues of power supply and low-voltage
is not ended and the responsibility will fall on the government and Wapda,” the association said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 28^th, 2010.