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Cutflower business emerging as private enterprise

* Only one government-owned flower shop functioing in city
* PHA engineering director identifies causes of decline

By Abdul Manan

LAHORE: Cutflower businesses (CFB), which used to be a government enterprise, are decreasing on the government side and increasing in the private sector, as the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) now has only one functional flower shop in the city out of a total of three.

PHA: The PHA is the responsible authority to carry out the CFB in the city. However, the PHA’s figures reveal that only one flower shop at Main Boulevard Road Gulberg is functional, while two flower shops situated in Garden Town and Township are not functional. It has also been noted that dozens of flowers shops have been opened by the private sector, following a shortage of such shops in the city. PHA Engineering Director Izhar Ahmed Khan confirmed that the PHA had only one functioning flower shop for the CFB in the city. He said that recently, the PHA had auctioned nine of its kiosks at Garden Town for a rent of Rs 7,000 to Rs 9,000 per month. He said that the CFB kiosks at Garden Town had been rented out on contracts to experts in the flower business, and it would soon be functional.

Causes of decline: He said that the CFB had been functional for only three years, after which it had been shut down because people could not afford this business. He said that the people could not run this business throughout the year, adding that flowers could not be grown in the months of December, January, July and August due to the climate. He said that flower investors could not afford to survive these months without any revenue. He also pointed out that people who worked for the CFB preferred to establish their kiosks on the roadside without paying any charges to any government or private agency. He said that the CFB in Township had closed down because of a lack of interest among people. However, he accepted that Pakistan’s environment was almost ideal for growing flowers. He mentioned that if overseas Pakistanis would invest in the CFB in the country, to ensure an excellent quality of flowers, they could later export them and earn millions of rupees through the CFB.

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