WAH CANTT, 05 OCT (DNA) – Pakistan Ordinance Factory (POF) being a mother defence production has made a tremendous contribution in the defence production field in Pakistan.
This was stated by Lt Gen (R) Abdul Qayyum, HI (M) Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Defence Production during the Senate Standing Committee’s on Defence Production visit to POF. He further added that at the time of partition, Pakistan even did not have a singe defence industry. It was POF which laid the base and made Pakistan almost self-sufficient in its defence hardware.
The Chairman Senate Standing Committee appreciated the outstanding contribution made by the new Chairman Lt Gen Omar Mahmood Hayat, HI(M) who has been able to articulate a very objective and ideal vision for this big defence industrial complex within first few months of his arrival.
Chairman Senate Standing Committee lauded the efforts of Chairman POF and his team who has set a target of exports over 100 million US dollar in this year which will be all time high. Gen Qayyum stressed on regular induction of the quality man power, up-gradation of old vintage machines and more allocation of fund in the research & development field.
He further added that Senate Standing Committee will make all its efforts to ensure that POF Board gets its due autonomy, financial independence to run the institution on sound commercial lines. Chairman Senate Standing Committee promised to make strong recommendation to the government to add additional housing colonies to relief the tight situation of houses in POF.
Earlier, Lt Gen Omar Mahmood Hayat, HI(M) Chairman POF Board in his detailed briefing told the delegation that POF was the premier defence organization of the country which was not only meeting defence requirement of the Armed Forces of Pakistan but also exporting its products to more than 30 countries around the globe.
Chairman POF Board further said that POF is a gigantic complex with 14 factories, 11 subsidiaries and total work force is more than 24 thousand. POFs industrial base is strong enough to undertake development and production of almost all types of conventional arms and ammunition. The delegation visited POF Product Display Lounges, later they were taken to some production units where they witnessed the manufacturing process of arms and ammunition.
The delegation showed keen interest in the manufacturing process of arms and ammunition and lauded the high quality of POF products. Chairman POF Board gave detailed answers to the questions raised by the members of Senate Standing Committee. They expressed their satisfaction over the performance and capabilities of this defence complex. DNA