Mitigation Plan for Identified Problems Faced by the Marble Industry in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Abstract

Marble is one of the important dimension stones used for verity of purposes including exterior and interior decoration of buildings. Leading countries in the production and export of marble including China, Italy, India, Spain, Brazil and US etc., have developed their marble sectors on scientific grounds by applying modern techniques. Pakistan also hosts huge reserves of different qualities of marble but this sector could not developed to the international standards due to a number of difficulties. As a result of these problems, the raw marble excavated from quarries carries less economic value and could not compete in the international market. Marble industry of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is selected for this study because major activities in this sector are being carried out in this province where more than 90% of the country’s reserves are located. The research documented here highlights and evaluates different problems faced by the marble industry in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan and mitigation plan is proposed to overcome these problems with the aim to develop the marble mining sector for improved product quality and subsequent processing for efficient mining and export of marble according to international standards.