STAFF REPORTER
IS LAMABAD Muhammad Ahmed Waheed, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry has said that despite announcement of the government to open construction industry in the country, constructionrelated industries including steel and pipe manufacturers have not been allowed to open their operations in the federal capital, which was creating great concerns in the business community of this sector. He w as afraid that further delay in opening construction sector in Islamabad would render over 20,000 workers jobless. Muhammad Ahmed Waheed said that for the last more than one month, industries and businesses were closed in Islamabad and industrialists w ere paying wages to workers from own pickets. However, this could not be done for long time as w ithout production activities, keeping labor on payroll would be a big challenge. He said that closed production activities took almost tw o months in getting back to normal operations and warned that if construction sector w as not opened immediately, all construction projects in Islamabad would suffer and unemployment would further increase.
