Karachi: The Senior Sindh Minister for Information, Transport, and Mass Transit, Sharjeel Inam Memon has vowed to arrange a meeting of SITE members with CM Sindh soon on the issues of industries. He has also announced plans to connect Orange and Green Line bus services with SITE industrial area to facilitate industrial works employed here.
He was speaking as the Chief Guest on the occasion of his visit to SITE Association of Industry. He was accompanied by relevant officials. Managing Director of SITE Limited Syed Ahmed Fawad and SSP Distt. Keamari Capt.(R) Faizan Ali, was also present in the meeting.
Sharjeel Memon said that the Sindh Government considers the business community their asset and added that the PPP model of Sindh has been appreciated at the federal level. The issues of the Business Community are taken very seriously by Chairman PPP and the CM Sindh.
He further said that many mega projects for Karachi are in the pipeline. However, big cities like Karachi have big problems & issues everywhere. People from other provinces come to Karachi to earn bread. He mentioned that approx. 21 lac homes were destroyed in the last flood in Sindh out of which, approx. 8.5 lac homes have been re-built which is a world record.
He announced the opening of the 2nd phase of Malir Expressway (Shahrah-e-Bhutto) till Quaidabad in the next two weeks and briefed members on the progress of BRT. He informed the members that vehicles registered in Lasbela have to be registered in Karachi while fitness checking & certification of vehicles is being outsourced. Govt. has established 4 centres for heavy vehicles and so far impounded 1500 vehicles on the grounds of fitness.
He admitted that the Northern Bypass is the only solution to Karachi’s heavy traffic. We are also allowing heavy traffic on Lyari Expressway (LEW) from 10 p.m. at night to 7 a.m. in the morning. Other steps shall also be taken to divert heavy traffic to ensure it passes from the city quickly. He termed the load shedding by K-Electric as “Collective Punishment” to the people of Karachi and mentioned that it is against the constitution of Pakistan.
Sharjeel Memon invited businessmen to invest in Dhabeji Industrial Zone. Other issues such as provision of gas to industries, strategy to control sit-in (dharna) in the city, Infrastructure Development Cess, traffic rules violations and role of traffic management bureau, government’s recommendation to businessmen for visa etc., were also discussed.
Earlier, SITE President Ahmed Azeem Alvi welcomed the Chief Guest to the Association and requested him to connect SITE area with railways network. He presented a brief introduction of the SITE area and highlighted its share in the national economy. Mr. Alvi appreciated the launch of EV buses for Karachi and added that industries are facing various issues which are unfortunately, still unresolved and need attention of the Government.
Patron-in-Chief Zubair Motiwala, congratulated the Sindh Government on introducing EV buses and mentioned that there are approx. 42 lac motorcycles on the roads of Karachi and the careless driving is also one of the reasons behind killing of motorcyclists in road accidents. He said that Karachi is the engine of the national economy which pays 90% of SRB revenue alone while rest of the Sindh pays only 10% to SRB. He said that since 60% goods are routed to upcountry, the heavy traffic should be diverted to bypass. Port cities all over the world have bypasses for heavy traffic, excluding Karachi.
He drew the attention of the Senior Minister towards two taxes being paid by the industries of SITE area viz. Property Tax to town authorities and Rent & Development charges to SITE Limited. He said that the utilization of Property Tax is the development of infrastructure and as such, it should be given to SITE Limited. He demanded to hand over the management control of SITE Karachi to the SITE Association of Industry to improve its working efficiency.
He emphasized the need to complete University Road on priority to ease the sufferings of common masses and devise a mechanism for sit-ins in the city and also requested a separate business category of passports.
Jawed Bilwani, President of Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry and former President SITE Association, mentioned that the majority of heavy traffic is registered in Lasbela and the fitness certificate is also issued from there. Of all such vehicles, the fitness certificate must be issued from Karachi. He mentioned that only Karachi registered vehicles should ply on Karachi roads and suggested to privatize issuance of Fitness Certificate. He stressed the need to revive Karachi Circular Railways (KCR) and remarked that travel by train was quite safe in the past. Ring roads have been constructed in other cities of Pakistan but not in Karachi which is yet another example of deprivation. Northern and Southern bypasses are equally important to divert heavy traffic, currently playing on city roads.
Mr. Bilwani expressed the confidence that KCR, Ring Road and Northern & Southern bypasses will resolve Karachi’s traffic issues to a great extent.
Former Presidents Tariq Yousuf, Younus Bashir, Majyd Aziz and Abdul Hadi and Chairman APTPMA Anwer Aziz also expressed their views in the meeting.
SVP Khalid Riaz, Immediate Past President Muhammad Kamran Arbi, Former President Abdul Rasheed, EC Members Touseef Ahmed, Ahmed Zulfiqar Chaudhry, Azeem Motiwala, Muhammad Kamran Lakhany, Muhammad Tahir Goreja, Abdul Rehman Fudda & Junaid-ur-Rehman, former SVP Muhammad Hanif Tawakkal, former VP Muhammad Hussain Moosani, Members of the Association and representatives from print & electronic media attended the meeting.