Patron-in-Chief Zubair Motiwala, President Abdul Rasheed, Senior Vice President Saud Mahmood, Vice President Muhammad Kamran Arbi, Ex-Presidents Jawed Bilwani, Saleem Parekh, Younus M. Bashir, Junaid Makda, Abdul Hadi and senior members have congratulated Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on assuming office of Prime Minister of Pakistan and have expressed the confidence that Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif being a seasoned & polished politician and well aware of the challenges being faced by the country at present, would play his due role in taking the country out of economic crisis.
In a joint statement, SITE leaders said, there is no doubt that the new PM is confronted with serious economic challenges. However, it is possible to surmount these challenges by forming a strong economic team together with consultation of the business community. They have welcomed the announcement made by the PM on the occasion of his visit to Karachi to build SITE area roads from federal funds and expressed the hope that this promise will turn into reality soon.
Welcoming the announcement to include KCR under the CPEC projects, they have assured the new PM of their full support and cooperation, and have expressed hope that the Combined Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) for SITE Industrial Area that was already approved, can also finally be made a reality under his leadership. Abdul Rasheed stressed the need to extend the route of Green Bus service from SITE to Tower which will facilitate approx. 2 million people & workers who visit SITE area on daily basis.
Highlighting SITE area issues, Zubair Motiwala and others said that increasing power tariff as well as gas and water crisis have badly affected industrial production in the area. They mentioned that the former government was unable to provide gas to industries in winter months even on higher tariff due to which, industries faced immense difficulties, particularly the export industries. They stressed the need to take measures to reduce cost of production, ensure uninterrupted supply of gas with required pressure, provide water to industries as per requirement, supply power on reduced tariff and cut taxes to help promote industrialization which will produce more avenues for employment in the country.
SITE President Abdul Rasheed further said that Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif is very well aware that despite all odds, the business community of Karachi contributes 65pc of total federal taxes and 95pc of provincial taxes and have 54pc share in the overall exports of the country. As such, Karachi needs the attention of the government and its due share in revenue to boost industrial & business activities, which will ultimately have a positive impact on the overall economy of the country and exports as a whole.
