KARACHI: Work on new truck stand to begin soon: nazim
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Dec 7: City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal on Thursday announced that the construction of infrastructure for a new truck stand close to the Northern Bypass would start soon. The city government has allotted 500-acre of land for the purpose, he added.
“After completion of the truck stand, the existing one on Mauripur Road would be shifted to the new place in a phased manner,” Mr Kamal said while chairing a meeting of CDGK and NLC officials in his office.
The meeting was attended by NLC’s Brig Masood and Col. Mussadiq Hashmi; EDO Master Plan Iftikhar Qaimkhani, EDO Revenue Saleh Ahmed Farooqi and others.
Mr Kamal said that existence of the truck stand on Mauripur Road was not creating great hardship and problems for the picnickers visiting the country’s most beautiful beach, Hawkesbay.
“The entire route had turned into a ‘no-go area’ for picnickers because of the innumerable warehouses and trucks and, as such, these should be removed on a priority basis,” he said.
The city government has initiated steps to save this beautiful beach and provide maximum possible transport facilities to citizens.
The existing truck stand is spread over an area of 100 acres along Mauripur Road while the new site reserved for the purpose offers 500 acres. “The city government’s planning is based on requirements for the next 50 years, he said in this context, and added that the new truck stand would be developed on 500 acres in phases based on priority.”
Mr Kamal said that in the past, all development projects had been executed without proper planning which caused inconvenience to citizens. He suggested that the CDGK and NLC, under the public-private partnership, could jointly manage the new truck stand and other projects, including asphalt plant and beaching plant at Northern Bypass.
He said the city government would start work next year on another signal-free corridor to address the transport problem. The corridor would be constructed from Nagan Chowrangi to Sharea Faisal, he added.Meanwhile, a delegation of the Federal Economic Chamber of Austria (FECA), along with Ambassador Michael Stigelbaver, called on Syed Mustafa Kamal and informed him that the Austrian government had decided to set up a marketing office for FECA in Karachi.
The delegation included representatives of different business groups led by Vice President of the FECA. The aim of its visit is to review business opportunities in the city.
Mr Kamal welcomed the delegation and highlighted the ongoing development projects and investment opportunities in Karachi, besides the facilities offered to local and international investors.
He said the government was establishing new industrial zones and providing maximum civic facilities to the investors.
He said the CDGK had started developing Karachi’s infrastructure to streamline it on modern lines. The process would be completed soon, he said, pointing out that the pace work on various schemes was in full swing.
During the last six months, the foreign capital of $900 million has been invested in the city to construct Pakistan’s tallest building. So far, 3,000 call centres have been booked in the 47-storey IT Tower with a capacity of 10,000 centres, although its foundation stone is yet to be laid.
The Austrian ambassador lauded the city government’s efforts, especially towards road-network improvement. He added the Austrian government could provide soft loan to those companies which showed their interest in making investments in Karachi.
