Local manufacturing needs lift, official says

 By LUKE KAMA 

THE Government must do more to emphasise the promotion of local manufacturing in Papua New Guinea, a company official says.

Factory manager of Colorpak Limited in Lae, Rajesh Desai said the local manufacturing industry in the country had collapsed since 2010.

“Similar to the emphasis put on the small to medium enterprise (SMEs), the Government should seriously look at promoting local manufacturing industries.

“We should promote local manufacturing industries because they are creating employment opportunities,” he said.

“ There is a huge potential to increase the capacity of local manufacturers to increase production and export overseas as well as supplying and meeting the local demand. 

Increasing capacity and promoting local manufacturers not only creates employment opportunities but will bring in export revenues which is good for our foreign reserve and the country’s economy.”

Desai said Colorpak had been in the manufacturing industry for a long time, but faced with a crisis because of lack of Government policy to promote local manufacturers. 

“During 2010 most of the things were emphasised on manufacturing in PNG and we are doing very well,” he said.

“After 2012, manufacturing has dropped and in 2014, we realised that our manufacturing has gone down by almost 60 per cent.”