Caretaker Sindh Chief Minister Justice (Retd) Maqbool Baqar presiding over a meeting of industrialists from different SITEs of Karachi has directed the Water Board to regularise subsoil bores and install meters to charge their tariff. He said that the mixing of sweet water with subsoil water for industrial purposes was not allowed because the subsoil water has different charges while the charge of sweet water being provided to the industrialists by the water board has different rates and both rates are industrial. He urged the industrialists to play their due role in ending water theft while the water board would ensure the uninterrupted supply of water to their industrial units.
He said that his government was keen to develop a conducive atmosphere in the province for business and industrial activities for which concrete measures were being taken. “This would be possible when the industrialists would strengthen the government hands by extending their cooperation in carrying out inspections,” he said and added the infrastructure of all the SITEs was being developed under the supervision of the concerned associations. The meeting was held at CM House on Tuesday and was attended by Minister Industries & Revenue Younis Dhaga, Chief Secretary Dr Fakhre Alam, Chairman P&D Shakil Mangejo, Secretary to CM RaheemShaikh, Home Secretary Iqbal Memon, SMBR Zahid Abbasi, Secretary Finance Kazim Jatoi, Secretary LG ManzoorShaikh, Secretary Industries, MD Water Board, MD SSWMB Adl IG Karachi Khadim Rind and others.
Industrials include Zubair Motiwala, Mian Zubair, Javed Balwani, Suleman Chawla, Kamran Arabi, Majeed Aziz and others. The chief minister discussed every issue with the industrialists and sought their solutions from the concerned secretary of the department. The scheme would cost around Rs2.4 billion. At this the CM directed the MD water board to send a summary of the schemes meanwhile he directed the chief secretary to seek permission from the ECP to carry out this new scheme. Salahuddin pointed out that there were a large number of illegal bores developed by industrialists, of which the water board had registered 140 and registration of the remaining bores was in progress. At this, the CM directed the MD water to install meters to record consumption of the subsoil water and fix tits rates and start charging the concerned industrialist. He said that the industrial rates of water board water were different while the rates of subsoil water would be different to be charged by the water board. Firefighters:
The industrialists took up the issue of the firefighting system. The SITE has their fire tenders and they have constructed a water tank of 60 gallons, but they don’t have water to fill it. At this, the CM said that sweet water was not required to extinguish but wastewater after minor treatment could be used. He advised the SITE and the Industries department to prepare a small scheme for the treatment of wastewater. It was also decided that a firefighting system would be developed at every SITE. The representatives of Karachi Chamber pointed out that the building burnt at Aisha Manzil has been cleared by the SBCA but even then, it has been closed for business activities.
The CM directed the local govt secretary Manzoor Shaikh to resolve the matter. Gas: The industrialists told the CM that they would not accept RLNG but they should be given natural gas being produced in the province of Sindh. At this, the CM said that he would write a DO letter to the prime minister to give Sindh its due share in the natural gas. Mehran Highway: The industrialists pointed out that the Mehran Highway was in dilapidated condition.
They requested the chief minister to get it reconstructed. Islamia College Flyover: The CM was told that a flyover was being constructed at Islamia College Road at a snail’s pace. They requested the CM to construct an underpass so that it could be completed at the earliest. It was causing serious traffic jams; therefore, the issue must be resolved.
