Daily Times

The President Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI) Adeel Ahmed Siddiqui has urged the Sindh government to pay serious attention to Hyderabad’s industrial area which he said, confronting a host of issues that were hampering industrial growth. In a statement issued here on Wednesday, he appealed to the government to ensure allotment of plots to industrialists for which they paid Rs. 25.5m to the Sindh Industrial Trading Estate (SITE) in advance 16 years back.

He said that over 400 industrial units exist in SITE but this area was faced with serious issues and needed massive reforms. The SITE Hyderabad had been badly neglected at the government level although it used to be a model industrial area in the past, he said.

The HCCI President said that the present infrastructure of SITE was inadequate to meet the requirement of functioning industrial units. For instance, he said, water supply lines have broken, forcing industrialists to turn to private tankers mafia to meet their water needs. He said that industries were getting contaminated water and the same was the case with drainage which reminds one that site was located in a katchi abadi settlement.

Adeel Siddiqui said that concrete drains were built only in few sectors. During rain emergency it was hardly impossible to save SITE area from being drowned, he said and added, encroachments dot the entire landscape of Hyderabad site as hotels and cabins had been set up to destroy industrial environment. He said environmental pollution was leaving a negative implication on industrial products. The President HCCI reminded the government that HCCI’s members had paid their installments amounting to Rs 25.5m in advance on July 8, 2008 to the SITE for SITE Phase-II. The HCCI had been making correspondences with SITE management but the latter remained least bothered about it, he said and added, it appeared as if phase-II does not exist on the ground at at government level. This has caused unrest and mistrust among industrialists, he added.

He said that these conditions were in fact the negation of fundamental rights of industrialists adding that despite such poor economic conditions industrialists were paying Rs. 60 billion annual tax to Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) according to a safe estimate. He said that the tax contribution to other government bodies was in addition to it.

Adeel Siddiqui said Sindh Chief Minister and Industries Minister Jam Ikramullah Dharejo were struggling for industrial promotion but these trickle down effects of these efforts were not reaching industrialists.

He emphasized the need for bringing reforms in SITE area and appealed to the Sindh Chief Minister to take steps for improving conditions in SITE Hyderabad.