The Port Qasim Authority (PQA), operator of the country's second largest seaport and its 12000-acre waste industrial estate, is faced with problems like water shortage and frequent electricity breakdowns that are impacting the business activities in the area negatively, PQA Chairman Vice Admiral Asad Qureshi (Retd) said at a conference on Saturday evening.
Further, the Port Qasim Association of Trade & Industry (PQATI) and Citizens-Police Liason Committee (CPLC) have agreed to launch the Neighbourhood Care project in all industrial zones of Port Qasim to check law and order situation in the area. "It is the lack of water which is creating problems for us; and the electricity problem which is supplied by the KESC Give us more water," Qureshi urged Karachi DCO Javed Hanif Khan, while underlining various milestones achieved by the PQA during his two-time chairmanship at the annual PQATI Conference on 'Challenges faced by the Industry: Remedies & Future Prospects for Industrialisation' at a local hotel.
The conference was attended by different quarters of the society, including industrialists, businessmen, representatives from civil society and media, officials from PQA and other government departments and foreign diplomats from countries like Iran, Russia, Malta, etc.
The PQA chief highlighted new initiatives and outcomes taken by him to improve the business-enabling environment in the country. Earlier, in his address PQATI Chairman Muhammed Ahmed, highlighting his Association's efforts for boosting industrial activities at Port Qasim Industrial Estates, also requested the PQA chairman to provide sewerage lines at PQA's north-west industrial zone at the earliest.
Shakil Ashfaq, PQATI Honorary Finance Secretary, highlighted various problems at Port Qasim, including no night pilotage at PQA pilferage of cargo, poor railway infrastructure for cargo dispatches and lack of amenities at PQA industrial estates such as sewerage, roads, street lighting, etc.
CPLC chief Sharfuddin Memon, recognising the criticality and importance of an improved law and order situation for economic development and a smooth flow of foreign investment, said the CPLC and PQATI were planning to work on the Neighbourhood Care project, that was already in place in four areas of the city.
Karachi DCO Jawed Hanif Khan, dispelling the impression that a "gloomy" situation was prevailing in PQA area and that the area was neglected in terms of development, proposed a proper mechanism to devise practicable strategies for development of the area, where, he said, almost 400 industrial units were working.
The DCO underscored his government's efforts and vision towards the city's business community and pledged his support for boosting industrial activities in Karachi.
Usman Ahmed, Vice Chairman of PQATI, told the conference that PQATI was planning to soon organise a PQATI Round Table Conference on the subject to facilitate industry as well as the government.
Rasheed Jan Mohammad discussed opportunities and threats faced by industry in recent times and through very practical and workable solutions. Others who spoke included Zubair Habib, CEO National Industrial Parks (NIP), Zaheer A. Hussain, CEO Pakistan Textile City Limited, Qaiser Shareef, Country Manager P&G, Asif Qadir, President Engro Polymers & Chemical Limited and Patron-in-Chief PQATI Naeem Ilyas Khanani, who stressed the need for a long-term "Industrial Policy" to reduce unemployment and improve the law and order situation. He announced that PQATI would soon launch a series of Round Table Conferences to formulate a long-term Industrial Policy.
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