KCCI awards contract for construction of new building

KARACHI: A contract worth Rs480 million for the construction of the new building of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has been awarded to Times Group Pvt Limited, an official said in a statement on Monday.

Businessmen Group (BMG) Chairman and former president of the KCCI Siraj Kassam Teli said the construction work will begin next week and would be completed within the next one-and-a-half years.

“Each and every single aspect was thoroughly reviewed prior to finalising the contract in which the contractor has quoted a sum of Rs480 million for the construction of the KCCI’s new building in Clifton,” Teli said.

The new KCCI building would certainly be an ideal building, as everything in plan has been finalised after detailed analysis, he said. “During all these years, we never carried out any misconduct or embezzled public’s money. It is only due to our honesty and sincerity that we remain in power at KCCI since 20 years, which is a huge period.”

Teli said, “Although we don’t have any opponent contesting against us anymore, we continue to honestly and sincerely serve the business and industrial community with the same spirit and intent,” he added. He stressed ‘Public Service’ was, is and will always be their motto and they will continue to do something good for Karachi as done in the past on many occasions.

“We will strive really hard to resolve the actual issues being faced by anyone without any discrimination between the poor or rich, member or non-member and friend or foe,” he said. Criticising the illegal tenants of the KCCI’s existing building, Teli said that these occupants have illegally expanded their offices situated in the KCCI building from just one to two rooms to 10, 12 and even 17 rooms by carrying out deals prior to the Businessmen Group’s arrival. These occupants were not paying any rent to the KCCI and some petty amounts were being submitted at the court.

“We attempted to negotiate with them on many occasions during the last 20 years, but to no avail, which left no other choice, but to initiate legal action against them around one-and-a-half year ago, he added.