Karachi: The Senior Sindh Minister for Information, Transport, and Mass Transit, Sharjeel Inam Memon has vowed to arrange a meeting of SITE members with CM Sindh soon on the issues of industries. He has also announced plans to connect Orange and Green Line bus services with SITE industrial area to facilitate industrial works employed here.
He was speaking as the Chief Guest on the occasion of his visit to SITE Association of Industry. He was accompanied by relevant officials. Managing Director of SITE Limited Syed Ahmed Fawad and SSP Distt. Keamari Capt.(R) Faizan Ali, was also present in the meeting. Former Presidents Tariq Yousuf, Younus Bashir, Majyd Aziz and Abdul Hadi and Chairman APTPMA Anwer Aziz also expressed their views in the meeting. SVP Khalid Riaz, Immediate Past President Muhammad Kamran Arbi, Former President Abdul Rasheed, EC Members Touseef Ahmed, Ahmed Zulfiqar Chaudhry, Azeem Motiwala, Muhammad Kamran Lakhany, Muhammad Tahir Goreja, Abdul Rehman Fudda & Junaid-ur-Rehman, former SVP Muhammad Hanif Tawakkal, former VP Muhammad Hussain Moosani, and members also attended the meeting.
Sharjeel Memon announced the opening of 2nd phase of Malir Expressway (Shahra-e-Bhutto) till Quaidabad in the next two weeks and briefed members on the progress of BRT. He informed the members that vehicles registered in Lasbela have to be registered in Karachi while fitness checking & certification of vehicles is being outsourced.
He admitted that the Northern Bypass was the only solution to Karachi’s heavy traffic. We are also allowing heavy traffic on Lyari Expressway (LEW) from 10 p.m. at night to 7 a.m. in the morning. He termed the load shedding by K-Electric as “Collective Punishment” to the people of Karachi and mentioned that it is against the constitution of Pakistan.
Earlier, SITE President Ahmed Azeem Alvi welcomed the Chief Guest to the Association and requested him to connect SITE area with railways network. He presented a brief introduction of the SITE area and highlighted its share in the national economy. Mr. Alvi appreciated the launch of EV buses for Karachi and added that industries are facing various issues which are unfortunately, still unresolved and need attention of the Government.
Patron-in-Chief Zubair Motiwala, congratulated the Sindh Government on introducing EV buses and mentioned that there are approx. 42 lac motorcycles on the roads of Karachi and the careless driving is also one of the reasons behind killing of motorcyclists in road accidents. He said that since 60% goods are routed to upcountry, the heavy traffic should be diverted to bypass. Port cities all over the world have bypasses for heavy traffic, excluding Karachi.
He drew the attention of the Senior Minister towards two taxes being paid by the industries of SITE area viz. Property Tax to town authorities and Rent & Development charges to SITE Limited. He said that the utilization of Property Tax is the development of infrastructure and as such, it should be given to SITE Limited. He demanded to hand over the management control of SITE Karachi to the SITE Association of Industry to improve its working efficiency.
Jawed Bilwani, President of Karachi Chamber, mentioned that the majority of heavy traffic is registered in Lasbela and the fitness certificate is also issued from there. Of all such vehicles, the fitness certificate must be issued from Karachi. He mentioned that only Karachi registered vehicles should ply on Karachi roads and suggested to privatize issuance of Fitness Certificate. He stressed the need to revive Karachi Circular Railways (KCR) and remarked that travel by train was quite safe in the past. He expressed the confidence that KCR, Ring Road and Northern & Southern bypasses will resolve Karachi’s traffic issues to a great extent.
