'Acute water shortage hitting activities in NKATI' estate

North Karachi Association of Trade and Industry's (NKATI) President Abdul Rashid Fodderwala has complained that acute shortage of water is forcing industrialists to purchase water privately at an exorbitant cost, which is rendering them uncompetitive in world markets. Industrial units in the industrial estate, including export-oriented industries, are not getting water and suffering huge losses and facing non fulfilment of export orders due to which their reputation is on the stake.
He said the cost of doing business was already high in the country compared to its regional competitors, and the water shortage was turning things for the worse, the industry people complained on Tuesday, urging the city's water utility to resolve the issue. "The cut in water supply has created a lot of problems for other industries too. Industrial production was going down and export-oriented industries were perturbed because they could not meet their export targets within the stipulated time."
He said despite repeated requests to the Managing Director of Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KW&SB) no improvement is seen in water supply to this biggest industrial estate of Pakistan.
The NKATI, which houses more then 2500 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) out of them about 90 per cent of them are export oriented units, is facing acute water shortage, resulting in production losses and closure of some units, industrialists said. Major units are: textile and textile made-ups, leather, flour mills, pharmaceuticals, cardboards, foods and beverages, light engineering, soap, dyeing and bleaching, ice manufacturing, chemicals, packaging, marbles, matches, pottery, printing etc. Industrialists asserted that the water supply from the Hub Dam has been reduced to zero for industrial units, as water level in the Hub Dam has dropped drastically due to dry season.
He said the tanker mafia was charging Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 per tanker which is not affordable. It is worth mentioning that in February Commissioner of Karachi Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui along with the Managing Director of KWSB visit North Karachi industrial area to physically examine persisting short water supply condition. After visiting the area, the KW&SB managing director assured industrialists that the water supply will improve within 24 hours.