Another wave of price surge of all products is in pipeline and the common man seems to be feeling hard pressed, as the implementation of Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) will further show its impact on rates of daily use items. Senator Abdul Haseeb Khan said this while speaking as chief guest at a lunch hosted by Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI) in honour of retiring senior journalist Abdul Quddos Faiq.
He said it was something tantamount to dropping a drown on the industries, who were already facing the brunt of the overall poor infrastructure, laws and order, water gas and power crisis. Industries and businesses had already finding it difficult to keep units operating, Senator Haseeb Khan said, adding the non-availability of gas, water and power had broken their back and it was hard to manage and operate their units. Abdul Haseeb Khan said it was only a dream to increase export in prevailing conditions. He emphasised the need of better interaction between industries and journalists to agitate issues being faced by industries in a better way.
He said Pakistan had been blessed with coal, minerals, oil, gas, water, agriculture and livestock, but due to corruption practice in each sector the country was still far behind many countries of the world that got independence after Pakistan. He emphasised the need of unity among business and industrial communities to agitate their issues and get them resolved. President KATI Rashid Ahmed Siddiqui said that conducting business in the country was Jihad, as resolving small issues with the government was a difficult and time consuming job. He expressed concern over acute shortage of utilities including water, gas, electricity, public transport and poor condition of roads in the city.
He said despite the fact that Karachi was contributing 54 percent of tax revenue and giving lots of employment to people from all over the country, sadly it was still deprived of basic urban civic necessities. He said for the last two decades Karachi had been suffering from injustice as it was not getting proper civic infrastructures like water supply, gas, electricity, streetlights and motor able roads.
He said the cost of production in Pakistan was higher as compare to other countries in its vicinity rendering Pakistani products un-competitive on export market. Chairman Press Committee of KATI Syed Johar Ali Qandhari praised the services of Quddos Faiq in economic reporting and said he had projected issues in honest way during his journalistic carrier.