October 28, 2003	Tuesday	Ramazan 1, 1424

KARACHI, Oct 27: The area of the proposed textile city being set up near the Port Qasim is being increased from 500 acres to 1,000 acres following the demand that textile units may need additional area for expansion in future.

A meeting of all the stakeholders on Monday held with industries and production secretary Javed Ashraf in the chair at the PIDC House noted the enthusiasm of textile operators who want to set up their units in the textile city.

Leaders of about a dozen top textile business houses who attended the meeting expressed their desire for allotment of plots and quick availability of utility services and infrastructure facilities. They propose that there should be built-in provision to provide them extra land allotment in immediate vicinity of their plots if they decide to expand their projects.

There was also a proposal to build labour colonies in the immediate vicinity of the textile city.

Javed Ashraf asked NESPAK to prepare the PC-1 of the textile city project by November 20 so that all necessary formalities could be completed and work begins at the project. Initial water requirement has been assessed at 2.5 million gallons a day, while electricity and gas requirements are being assessed.