Site Association of Industry (SAI) has urged the chief executive officer of Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) to waive fix charges of August and extend the last date of payment of power bills by two weeks.
In a letter to CEO and ministry of production, Chairman, SAI Amin Bandukda said that industrial products have affected adversely during August, owing to heavy rains and continuous power failure in industrial areas for more than 10 days.
Talking to Business Recorder, he said that rain, which hit Karachi on Thursday last once again disturbed power supplies in industrial areas and more than 40 percent PMT remained out of order on Friday.
He said that movement comes to standstill due to bad road condition in Site industrial area. He said that attendance in private offices and industrial units remained thin on Friday as majority of workers failed to reach on work place owing to bad condition of roads and non availability of transport.
Meanwhile, industrialists said that very large number of workers did not turn up due to the announcement of general holiday by the Sindh government This announcement has been misunderstood by the workers and they thought that private offices and industrial units would also remain closed on Friday. The holiday announcement was for provincial government offices, schools and colleges.
Attendance in industrial units in Korangi, Site, Port Qasim and Landhi industrial areas remained 40 percent only, which hits industrial production adversely. Only those workers attended offices that were living in the vicinity and those who were living far away from units did not turned up.
They said that rainwater has entered warehouses and industrial units situated in low lying areas and damaged the raw material, finished goods and industrial machinery.
Chairman, North Karachi Association of Trade and Industry (NKATI) Dawood Usman Jakhura said that only 70 percent industrial units were operative with depleted attendance.
He said that very large number of industrial workers reached homes late on Thursday night due to non-availability of transport owing to flooded road. On Friday they did not turn up to attend duty.
He said that power supply has improved considerably on Friday. Traffic jam reports have been received from Korangi industrial area owing to bad condition of roads. Traffic at Hino Chowrangi was completely jammed and causeway has been closed for traffic. Industrial production was also hit in units of Korangi area.
Chairman, FPCCI Standing Committee on Taxation Zakaria Usman urged the City Nazim to direct KWSB to improve sewerage system in industrial areas to drain rain water.
He said the recent rains have affected industrial areas infrastructure adversely and that need to be revamped. He said that roads in industrial areas are in very bad shape, which hit the traffic flow as industrialists and workers took several hours to reach work place or return home.