Carpet-processing factory opens in Herat

HERAT CITY (PAN): The first-ever carpet processing factory, a US-funded project, was inaugurated in the industrial park in western Herat province on Saturday, officials said.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony, Governor Daud Shah Saba called the facility a big leap forward for the carpet industry in western zone.

“Until whatever we produced was transferred to Pakistan for processing and the neighbouring country would export it to abroad with made-in-Pakistan labels,” he said.

Saba added that carpets were one of the main handicrafts of the country, particularly Herat, hoping that carpet weavers would be able to run the facility properly.  

Costing $500,000 (25.3 million afghanis), the US-funded project was executed on 4,000 square metres of land, said Khalil Yarmand, the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries head for the province.

Speaking on the occasion, the deputy head of the Tawakali Carpet Company, Zainab Tawakali, said the facility would help boost the industry in western provinces.

According to carpet-weavers and exporters union head, Mohammad Rasoul Faiq, 700,000 square metres of carpets of 72 different kinds were produced annually in the western zone.

mm/mud

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