Cambridge O Level Pakistan Studies: Industrial Development (2059)

Industrial development is Section 5 of Paper 2 in Cambridge O Level Pakistan Studies 2059. It defines the vocabulary of industry, then studies ten named processing and manufacturing industries and tourism: what they make, where they are, why they are there, and how government, the formal sector and the informal sector help them grow. The exam rewards a named place and a named location factor for every industry.

How does Section 5 connect to the rest of Paper 2?

Industry turns the raw materials of Sections 2 and 4 (limestone, gypsum, cotton, cane, natural gas) into goods, and it depends on Section 3’s power supply and Section 7’s transport links. Its exports feed Section 6 and its jobs feed Section 8. A 25-mark Paper 2 question often starts with a map of industrial locations or a photograph of a workshop, then moves to a part (d) judgement such as whether tourism or export zones can create jobs.

Syllabus coverage

CAMBRIDGE O LEVEL PAKISTAN STUDIES 2059, 2026 — PAPER 2, SECTION 5: INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT

• 5(a) Common terms: raw materials, refined, processed, manufactured, value-added; infrastructure and services; primary, secondary and tertiary industry
• 5(b) Secondary and tertiary industries — cement; cotton from ginning to clothing; sugar refining; crafts; fertiliser; iron and steel; brick; oil refining; sports goods; surgical instruments; tourism:
  • Pakistan’s definitions of large-scale, small-scale and cottage industry
  • main products and whether they are for the domestic and/or export market
  • main locations and the influence of capital, site, raw materials, power, water, labour, communications, government policy and other factors
  • formal and informal sectors: differences, the services the informal sector provides, their advantages and disadvantages, and the contributions of both
  • sources of capital and labour; how governing authorities promote industrial growth
  • examples, reasons and characteristics of export processing zones and other industrial estates
  • feasibility of global communications for service jobs such as call centres
  • natural and cultural tourist attractions, with an example of each, and the feasibility of tourism for employment, development, GNP and GDP

What do the key terms mean, using one product chain?

Follow cotton from field to shirt to see every term at once:

1. Raw material: seed cotton picked in Sanghar or Vehari.
2. Processed: ginned to separate lint from seed, then spun into yarn.
3. Manufactured: yarn woven or knitted into cloth, then cut and sewn into garments.
4. Value-added: each stage raises the price; a kilogram of garments earns far more export income than a kilogram of raw lint.
5. Refined applies to other chains: crude oil into petrol, raw cane juice into white sugar.

Infrastructure is the base a factory needs: roads, rail, ports, power, gas, water, telecoms. Services are activities that support people and firms, such as banking, insurance, transport and repair. Primary industry extracts (farming, mining, fishing), secondary processes or manufactures, and tertiary provides services.

Scale in Pakistan. Official statistics treat “large-scale manufacturing” as factories registered under the Factories Act and covered by the census of manufacturing, generally with ten or more workers using power-driven machinery. Small-scale units are smaller workshops with a few hired workers, such as a Gujranwala metal workshop. Cottage industry is carried out at home by family members with simple tools, such as embroidery or rilli quilt-making in rural Sindh.

Where are the ten industries and why?

Industry	Example locations	Decisive location factors	Market
Cement	Dera Ghazi Khan, Daudkhel and Chakwal (Punjab), Pezu and Hattar (KP), Thatta and Rohri (Sindh)	Heavy limestone and gypsum quarried nearby; power; road and rail	Domestic; exports to Afghanistan and by sea
Cotton: ginning	Rahim Yar Khan, Multan, Sanghar, Hyderabad	Seed cotton is bulky, so ginneries sit in the cotton belt	Lint to domestic mills
Cotton: spinning to clothing	Faisalabad, Lahore, Karachi, Multan	Labour, capital, power; port for exports and imported machinery	Domestic and the largest export group
Sugar refining	Rahim Yar Khan, Jhang, Mardan, Badin, Thatta	Cane loses sugar within a day or two of cutting	Domestic; molasses exported for ethanol
Crafts	Multan blue pottery; Hala lacquer work and ajrak; Chiniot furniture; Lahore carpets	Inherited skills; local materials; tourist trade	Domestic, tourists and export
Fertiliser (urea)	Daharki and Mirpur Mathelo (Sindh), Sadiqabad, Multan, Sheikhupura	Natural gas is both feedstock and fuel; on gas fields or pipelines	Domestic
Iron and steel	Pakistan Steel Mills at Pipri, Port Qasim; private mills in Lahore and Karachi; ship-breaking scrap at Gadani	Imported ore and coking coal land at the port; scrap from Gadani	Domestic
Brick	Kilns on the edge of every city, e.g. around Lahore and Peshawar	River-plain clay, cheap labour, local market; bricks are heavy and cheap	Domestic
Oil refining	Karachi (National and Pakistan refineries), Morgah near Rawalpindi (Attock Refinery), Mahmood Kot (Pak-Arab), Hub	Coastal sites for imported crude; Potwar sites for local crude	Domestic
Sports goods and surgical instruments	Sialkot, with cutlery at Wazirabad	Skilled workforce, export firms, Sialkot dry port and airport	Mainly export

Pakistan Steel Mills was built with Soviet help and began producing in the early 1980s; it has been largely idle since about 2015, so private re-rolling mills using imported billets and Gadani scrap now supply much of the steel. Sialkot footballs have been used at FIFA World Cups, a good example of export-led small-scale industry.

Formal and informal sectors: what is the difference and why do both matter?

	Formal sector	Informal sector
Registration	Registered, taxed, inspected	Unregistered, untaxed
Jobs	Contracts, regular wages, some benefits	Casual, irregular pay, no protection
Examples	Textile mills in Faisalabad, refineries, cement plants	Roadside tyre repair, rickshaw workshops, home stitching, street food
Capital	Banks, shareholders, foreign investors	Family savings, moneylenders

Services the informal sector provides: cheap repairs, transport, recycling of scrap, small retail and domestic work. Advantages: jobs for people without formal qualifications, low start-up cost, cheap goods and services, flexible subcontracting for exporters. Disadvantages: low pay, child labour (a long-standing concern in brick kilns), unsafe conditions, no tax revenue. Many Sialkot exporters subcontract stitching to informal home workers, so the two sectors depend on each other.

How does government promote industry?

• Export processing zones (EPZs): fenced, serviced estates where firms import raw materials and machinery duty-free if they export most output. Examples: Karachi EPZ (the first, set up in the 1980s), Sialkot, Risalpur, Gujranwala, and mineral EPZs at Saindak and Duddar in Balochistan.
• Industrial estates and special economic zones: SITE in Karachi and Hyderabad, Sundar Industrial Estate near Lahore, Hattar and Gadoon Amazai in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Hub in Balochistan, and CPEC special economic zones such as Rashakai and Allama Iqbal Industrial City near Faisalabad.
• Other measures: tax holidays, cheaper credit for small firms, training institutes, power and gas at subsidised tariffs for exporters, and infrastructure such as motorways and dry ports.

Why build them? To attract foreign investment and technology, earn foreign exchange, create jobs and spread industry beyond Karachi and Lahore.

Can global communications create service jobs?

Call centres, software houses and online freelancers need fast broadband, reliable power and English-speaking, computer-literate graduates. Pakistan’s information technology and IT-enabled service exports were roughly US$3 billion a year in the mid-2020s, and online freelancing has grown fast. Limits: power cuts, uneven internet outside big cities, a small pool of highly skilled staff, and strong competition from other countries. A feasibility answer weighs these.

Is tourism a realistic route to development?

Natural attractions: Fairy Meadows below Nanga Parbat, the Deosai Plains, Lake Saiful Muluk in the Kaghan valley, Hingol National Park and Kund Malir beach on the Makran coast. Cultural attractions: the Makli necropolis near Thatta, Rohtas Fort, Takht-i-Bahi, the Kalash valleys, Sufi shrines at Sehwan and Multan, and the Kartarpur Corridor opened in 2019 for Sikh pilgrims. Tourism employs guides, drivers, hotel and restaurant staff and craft sellers, earns foreign exchange and adds to GDP and GNP. Constraints: poor road access and landslides, seasonal demand, security perceptions, limited hotels, and damage to fragile mountain environments from litter and unplanned building.

Frequently asked questions

Why are sugar mills built beside the cane fields? Cut cane is bulky and loses its sugar content quickly, so it must be crushed within a day or two. Mills therefore sit in cane districts such as Rahim Yar Khan and Mardan.

Why are fertiliser plants near Daharki and Sadiqabad? Urea is made from natural gas, which is both raw material and fuel, so plants are built on or near the gas fields and pipelines of upper Sindh and southern Punjab.

What makes an EPZ different from an ordinary industrial estate? An EPZ gives duty-free imports and tax concessions on condition that most output is exported. An industrial estate offers serviced plots and infrastructure without that export condition.

Is brick-making formal or informal? Mostly informal or semi-formal: kilns are often unregistered, use seasonal and family labour, and have been criticised for bonded labour and smoke pollution.

Related resources

• Industrial Development revision notes
• Industrial Development practice questions
• Agricultural Development study guide
• Power study guide

Official syllabus

Cambridge Assessment International Education, Cambridge O Level Pakistan Studies 2059 syllabus for examination in 2026, Paper 2 Section 5 Industrial development: https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/Images/697282-2026-syllabus.pdf (checked 2026-11-08). Export figures are approximate; see the State Bank of Pakistan and Pakistan Economic Survey.