The Presidents and Senior Vice-Presidents of the city's industrial town associations have expressed their disappointment over the indifferent attitude of the elected representatives towards the issues highlighted by them time and again.
They said that they held six press conferences to apprise the government of the poor infrastructure in industrial estates of the city but neither the prime minister, governor, chief minister, federal ministers nor the government departments paid any attention to their demands.
Speaking at a seventh joint press conference under the banner of Karachi Industrial Forum (KIF) at Landhi Association of Trade and Industry (LATI) on Tuesday, they said that all seven town associations of the city had submitted a charter of demands to the government, but the demands were yet to be met.
They said that the industries which provided huge employment to people were facing closure due to non availability of basic utilities.
LATI President Hussain Quli Khan said that the infrastructure in Landhi industrial area was badly damaged. "The entrances and exits of the area are totally damaged and full of pot holes and ditches. Travelling on these damaged roads not only cause wastage of time but also pose risk to live and property," he added.
He further said that during peak hours, when traffic got jammed criminals became active to deprive people of their valuables.
He said that one of the hydrants in Landhi industrial area had been causing serious damages to road for many months, which was the only main route connecting Landhi Industrial Area to Korangi Industrial Area.
Likewise another important route, Mehran highway, had been damaged by overflowing of filthy water from the drains situated on the highway, he added. Another road, General Tyre Road, was under construction for many months which was causing serious inconvenience.
Industries situated at Shah Latif Town and national highway were also suffering due to pathetic condition of roads, which needed to be repaired on am urgent basis, he added.
The second genuine demand, he said was that there was an acute shortage of water to meet the industrial needs. "The water supply is erratic and with low pressure, which when supplied do not reach the tail-enders," he added.
"There is a draught like situation in all the seven industrial associations. In order to meet their demands for utilities and production needs, the factory owners have to buy water from hydrants at higher prices which elevate the cost of production rendering the factory owners out of completion in the regional and international markets," he said.
He regretted that despite repeated requests, Karachi water and sewerage board had no plan as how to tackle the growing needs of the industrial units of the city.
He said that gas being supplied to the industries was devoid of the pressure, resulting in non-functioning of the boilers and machinery. 'Some time during the day the pressure is so low that factory owners had to shut their production activities in order to save the costly equipment from breakdown," he added.
The voluntary Sunday Gas Holiday by SSGC was for a temporary phase, but without taking into account the stakeholders, SSGC had converted the voluntary holiday into compulsory holiday and very rigorously implementing the holiday, he said adding that this had forced the factory owners to curtail their production activities.
He said that the law and order situation in the city in general and the industrial areas in particular was worse. "Though the government has launched an operation to make Karachi a crime free city and the ongoing operation would continue to achieve the objective, but still it is a far cry and every one specially the businessmen and traders are at the mercy of the terrorists," he observed.
He urged that law enforcing agencies to ensure peaceful working atmosphere in all the seven industrial area of the city.
To add to the misery 15 Madadgar Service was not activated in Landhi Industrial area. Initially it worked in Landhi Industrial area but now there were few police personal available with 15 Madadgar. Industrialist of Landhi Industrial area had constructed check posts in different locations, installed CCTV Cameras and other required equipments with a cost of Rs 25 millions but to no avail.
Spokesperson KIF and President SITE Association of Industry (SAI), M Jawed Bilwani presented specific demands including: Separate pipelines supplying water to all seven town industrial areas; guaranteed quantity of water supply; dedicated gas pipelines; 3-5 electricity distribution companies in each industrial town; fire station in all the seven industrial zones; posting and transfer of DC in consultation with concerned town association and fixed gazetted holidays in a year.
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