Hyderabad Leather Footwear Centre inaugurated

HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad Leather Footwear Centre (HLFC) was inaugurated here on Thursday to promote the production of leather shoes locally and to discourage the imports of the footwear.

The representatives of Small nad Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA), Sindh Small Industries Corporation (SSCI) and Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI), jointly performed the inauguration.

General Manager of SMEDA Muslim Raza said that Pakistan needs 40 million shoes and chappal per year while most of the local demand was met through imports from China to fulfill over necessities.

"The local people have skills and experience of manufacturing quality footwear and they only needed to be equipped with the proper equipment to be able to produce the good in the required numbers," he said.

Raza informed that the Leather Footwear Centre was equipped with machinery for manufacturing shoes and hand made small footwear manufacturing units for training the staff.

General Manager of SMEDA Syed Iqbal Kidwai gave the introduction on the project and initiatives taken for SME s development.

He said the machinery worth $4 million had been provided at the center adding that the local production would help reduce the imports.

Senior Vice President of HCCI Turab Ali Khoja said that the business community was happy on the revival of footwear industry in Hyderabad after almost 2 decades.

"It is an old industry of Hyderabad but attention was not given to its development earlier," he added.

The program was attended by Muhammad Junaid Project Manager HLFC, Zeeshan Ahmed Project Director HLFC, Syed Yawar Ali Shah and Adnan Khan Members Board of Directors HLFC, Abdul Saleem Arain Vice President HCCI, Ziauddin Former Vice President HCCI and other businessmen. (APP)