Karachi's business community playing key role in national economy: Alvi

KARACHI: The President of Pakistan, Dr. Arif Alvi, has said that Karachi's business community is playing a key role in the national economy, and all possible steps are being taken to alleviate the problems faced by them.

Discussing the situation arising out of the recent rains, the Karachi package, overcoming the difficulties faced by the business community and other issues with a delegation of business community at the Governor's House here, he said that the Karachi package would prove to be important for solving the problems of the city.

The Rs1,100 billion package announced for the development of Karachi would bring about a major change in the city, and it would improve the infrastructure of the city as well as the infrastructure of the industrial areas of Karachi.

The president said that Karachi was the economic hub of Pakistan, and the federation would continue to extend its full cooperation for its development.

Dr. Arif Alvi said that promotion of business and industrial activities was the top priority of the government while effective measures had also been taken to attract investors.

According to the participants of the meeting, President Alvi said that he would try his best to solve the problems of electricity, gas and water which the industrial areas of Karachi faced while the issue of GDC was also being tackled.

Replying to a proposal to add industrial infrastructure to the Karachi package, he asked the industrialists to give PC-1 worth Rs2 billion for each zone for the improvement of the infrastructure, and only then any progress was possible for its approval from the Karachi package. He said that the prime minister's smart lockdown policy had helped in reducing the incidents of the coronavirus.

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail said that serious efforts were being made for the development of Karachi, and the government was aware of the difficulties faced by the business community. He said that improvement in the situation in Karachi would strengthen business activities.

He said that all possible steps were being taken for the development of the industrial areas, adding that transparency and quality in the Karachi package would be ensured in all cases. The delegation expressed its hope that the government would solve their problems on a priority basis, adding that the sincerity of the prime minister was not being doubted.

Nasim Akhtar, president of the North Karachi Association of Trade and Industry (NKATI), told President Arif Alvi that if the government wanted Karachi to develop, it would have to solve the power, gas and water issues on a priority basis because the industrialists had been facing great difficulties in continuing with their production activities due to load-shedding of electricity and gas, water shortage and many other issues.

He urged President Arif Alvi to convene meetings with the real business representatives at least twice a month. President Arif Alvi said he would try to arrange regular meetings with the business community.

Sadiq Mohammad, CEO of the North Karachi Industrial Development and Management Company (NKIDMC), and Faraz Mirza, chairman of the board, said they were grateful to President Arif Alvi for trusting the development companies. They said that the NKIDMC would soon provide PC-1 of the North Karachi industrial area.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020