A meeting of Sindh Industrial Liaison Committee was called by Mr. Zubair Baweja, Vice President FPCCI on July 20, 2020 at Federation House to discuss the ongoing issues related to gas, water, electricity and infrastructure faced by the industrial zones of Karachi and Sindh. The meeting was attended by Presidents and representatives of Industrial Associations of Sindh and Karachi such as Mr. Zahid Saeed Coordinator Sindh Industrial Laision Committee (SILC), Mr. Zain Bashir Spokesmen from Karachi Industrial Forum (KIF) and Chief Coordinator Landhi Association of Trade and Industry (LATI), Mr. Umer Rehan President of Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI), Mr. Abdullah Abid President of Federal B Association of Trade and Industry (FBATI), Mr. Zahid Mazhar Chairman of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Sindh and Baluchistan, Mr. Naveed Shakoor President of Bin Qasim Association of Trade & Industry (BQATI) and Mr. Suleman Chawla President of SITE Association.
Industrial estates in Karachi as well as Sindh are facing devastation due to unprecedented shortages in supply of electricity, gas and water. Even though the industrial units, shopping malls, shops, restaurants, clubs, banquets and other places are running below capacity, due to lockdown restrictions and even still Sindh’s industrial units are not receiving sufficient amount of gas and electricity. Due to the prevailing situation of lockdown, the production activities are already being hampered whereas the frequent gas pressure drops, the Sunday gas shutdowns, and the daily 8 hours KE load shedding from midnight till 8am is going to be the straw that breaks the camels back. This extremely poor treatment being dealt out to the industry of Karachi would have an obvious and seriously negative impact on the nation’s exports. Moreover, the participants have strongly protested over the decision of the federal government to provide gas share of general industries to KE and demanded to immediately withdraw it. The house demanded that government should take a serious notice of prolonged load-shedding in the city together with action against KE for its inefficiency and mismanagement which is destroying Karachi’s industry.
Moreover, the participants have strongly protested over the decision of the federal government to provide gas share of general industries to KE and demanded to immediately withdraw it. The house demanded that government should take a serious notice of prolonged load-shedding in the city together with action against power utility for its inefficiency. According to article 158, it is the right of Sindh industrial units to have sufficient amount of gas should be supplied as indigenous gas is produced in the Sindh province and we have a decree in our favour.
The aim of Sindh Liaison Committee is to provide a platform to all the industrial associations in order to resolve the above mentioned issues via disciplined joint efforts so that industrial zones in Sindh can be prevented from the malice of uneven policies and discriminative behavior of authorities against Sindh, said by Mr. Zubair Baweja. The house also raised the serious concern over induction of RLNG for industries, as a substitute of gas is not at all a sustainable solution, as it would adversely affect the input cost which in turn would make businesses uncompetitive in the international market.
