The Senior Sindh Minister for Information, Transport, and Mass Transit, Sharjeel Inam Memon, has vowed to arrange a meeting between SITE members and the Chief Minister of Sindh soon to discuss industrial issues. He has also announced plans to connect the Orange and Green Line bus services with the SITE industrial area to facilitate industrial work employed there.
He was speaking as the Chief Guest on the occasion of his visit to the SITE Association of Industry. Relevant officials accompanied him, including the Managing Director of SITE Limited, Syed Ahmed Fawad, and the SSP District. Captain (R) Faizan Ali, Keamari, was also present at 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 the Chairman of 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. Approximately 21 lakh homes were destroyed in the last flood in Sindh, out of which approximately 8.5 lac homes have been rebuilt, which is a world record.
He announced the opening of the 2nd phase of the Malir Expressway (Shahrah-e-Bhutto) to Quaidabad within the next two weeks and briefed members on the progress of the BRT. He informed the members that vehicles registered in Lasbela must be registered in Karachi, as the fitness checking and certification of vehicles are being outsourced. The government has established four centres for heavy vehicles and has impounded 1,500 cars on the grounds of fitness so far.
He admitted that the Northern Bypass is the only solution to Karachi’s heavy traffic. We are also allowing heavy traffic on the Lyari Expressway (LEW) from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. the following morning. Other steps will also be taken to divert heavy traffic, ensuring it passes through 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 business people to invest in the Dhabeji Industrial Zone. Other issues, such as the provision of gas to industries, strategies to control sit-ins (dharna) in the city, Infrastructure Development Cess, traffic rule violations, and the role of the traffic management bureau, as well as the government’s recommendations to business people for visas, were also discussed.
Earlier, SITE President Ahmed Azeem Alvi welcomed the Chief Guest to the Association and requested that the SITE area be connected to the railway network. He presented a brief introduction to 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 from the government.
Patron-in-Chief Zubair Motiwala congratulated the Sindh Government on introducing electric vehicles (EV) buses and mentioned that there are approximately 4Forty-twolac motorcycles on the roads of Karachi, and careless driving is also one of the reasons behind the 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 the rest of Sindh pays only 10% to SRB. He said that since 60% of goods are routed to the upcountry, the heavy traffic should be diverted to bypass the area. Port cities all over the world have bypasses for heavy traffic, excluding Karachi.
He drew the attention of the Senior Minister to two taxes being paid by the industries in the SITE area, viz. Property Tax to town authorities and rent and development charges to SITE Limited. He said that the utilisation of Property Tax is for the development of infrastructure, and as such, it should be given to SITE Limited. He demanded that the management control of SITE Karachi be handed over to the SITE Association of Industry to improve its working efficiency.
He emphasised the need to prioritise the completion of University Road to alleviate the suffering of the general public and devise a mechanism for sit-ins in the city. Also, he requested a separate business category for passports.
Jawed Bilwani, President of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry and former President of the SITE Association, mentioned that the majority of heavy traffic is registered in Lasbela, and fitness certificates are 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 privatising the issuance of Fitness Certificates. He emphasised the need to revive the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) and noted 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 for diverting heavy traffic and alleviating congestion on city roads in Karachi.
Mr Bilwani expressed 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, Abdul Hadi,, as well as Chairman APTPMA Anwer Aziz, also expressed their views durgduring 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.
