‘Poor infrastructure to aggravate exports decline’

KARACHI: Industrialists on Tuesday warned federal and provincial governments of further decline in exports due to deterioration of infrastructure across the industrial areas.

Karachi Industrial Forum (KIF), representing seven industry and trade associations, urged the authorities to allocate around Rs100 billion for the rehabilitation of infrastructure KIF, addressing a press conference, said the poor infrastructure is marring the industrial production as well as increasing the cost of doing business.  The forum said dilapidated roads, garbage, traffic congestion, encroachment and sewerage water worsened the situation.

Zahid Saeed, chairman of KIF and president of Korangi Association of Trade and Industry said the associations have been raising the issues for the past three years, but all in vain. “Today’s gathering is a wake-up call for both the federal and provincial governments,” Saeed said. He added that bringing new investment in this situation is difficult.

He said the law and order situation has improved, “but poor infrastructure is a bigger issue than law and order for the city. Thousands of families are dependent on such industries.” The KIF chief said Karachi contributes 70 percent towards the total tax revenue collected by the federal government, besides contributing 55 percent as sales tax and around 55 percent of total exports.

The associations said the federal government allocated billions of rupees for various projects across the country, but unfortunately Karachi has not been given the due consideration. The representatives from Landhi, Bin Qasim, North Karachi, SITE, Federal B Area and SITE Superhighway association appealed the Sindh chief minister to take notice of the deteriorating conditions of the industrial and trade estates.

They urged the provincial authorities to improve the traffic management by providing diversion to facilitate commuters and enhance security on roads during the peak hours. They said the industrial sector is the backbone of the country’s economy and deserves quality road and transport infrastructure.

During the recent rains, they said the condition of the already frail road network serving these areas had gone from bad to worst. They said the main irritants include encroachment, illegal parking, open sewerage holes, large broken patches, dumping on median strip and illegal u-turns. The associations said incidences of vehicle lifting and mugging are frequently reported during the traffic congestions. These issues are also affecting five million people travelling to the industrial areas.