KARACHI: The Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and the Site Association of Industry (SAI) are going to run a campaign in the media to expose the state of the infrastructure in the SITE industrial zone and the apathy of the federal and provincial governments.
At a meeting during the visit by an SAI delegation to the KCCI, President of KCCI, M. Shariq Vohra, and President of the SAI, Abdul Hadi, consented on filming and disseminating short video clippings highlighting broken roads and sewerage lines and other infrastructure issues being faced by the business and industrial community of the oldest and largest industrial zone of the city.
The meeting was also attended by KCCI Vice President Shamsul Islam Khan, SAI Senior Vice President Riazuddin, Vice President Abdul Kadir Bilwani and former SAI president Suleman Chawla.
Shariq Vohra said, “Although assurances have been given from time to time by the federal and provincial governments, yet none of them have taken any practical steps to provide relief to the perturbed business and industrial community of Site area.
“We have attended many meetings at the provincial and federal levels but all these meetings proved to be a futile exercise, which leaves no other option for us but to go for highlighting this serious issue in the media so that the world could see how awful the infrastructure has become in a city which is the source of bread and butter for the entire country.”
He said that this campaign on the social and mainstream media was being fully supported by the industrial town associations as well as by a majority of sector-specific trade associations.
The KCCI president urged all of the industrial town associations of the city to unite under KCCI’s platform.
No serious work had been done so far vis-a-vis the Karachi package which was really worrisome for the Karachiites who were losing their patience and faith in the federal and provincial governments, he said.
He said that collective efforts on a more aggressive note were desperately needed for dealing with the infrastructure destruction in SITE area where commuting even in a jeep had become a nightmare.
SAI President Abdul Hadi said, “The federal and provincial governments, instead of taking serious notice of the issues, are treating us like a football as whenever we approach the federal government for assistance, they forward us to the provincial government, and when we knock on the doors of the provincial government, it forwarded us to the federal government.”
The SAI president said that their strategy should be to focus only on the infrastructure and gas shortage issues being faced by the industries in the Site area instead of taking up so many issues simultaneously.
“These are the two most pressing issues that require attention,” he said.
He said that the general industry was subjected to an enhanced gas tariff rate of Rs1054 per MMBTU with an assurance that they will get uninterrupted gas supply with adequate gas pressure but this was not happening at all in Site area where SAI has been receiving complaints everyday about low gas pressure in many industrial units, affecting production activities.
Abdul Hadi also appreciated KCCI president’s strategy to take all the industrial town associations on board which would surely help in diluting a general misconception that the KCCI only paid attention to the traders’ issues.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020