KARACHI, Jan 10: City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal has said that the city government is spending billions of rupees on improving and developing infrastructures in all the four industrial zones of the metropolis considering that the industrial areas are the backbone of the country’s economy.
He was speaking at a largely attended ceremony where he unveiled the plaque of a project marking commencement of work on the North Karachi Industrial Area’s sewerage system. The project, Wastewater Collection and Disposal System for North Karachi Industrial Area, will be completed by Aug 10 this year at a cost of Rs247.32 million.
He noted that the city’s industrial areas contributed 68 per cent of the national revenues to the exchequer, and said that the city government was spending huge amounts on laying new water and sewerage lines and reconstructing roads in the industrial zones of North Karachi, Federal B Area, Landhi and Korangi.
He said that the high quality conduits, called GRP (Glassfiber Reinforced Plastic) pipes, being used in the project was a product imported from a Dubai at a higher cost merely because it was durable and strong enough to meet the sewerage needs of the industrial area for a period ranging between 50 and 100 years.
It is the present CDGK leadership that has explored this high-tech product for use in Pakistan for the first time as the pipe is perfectly fit to carry industrial waste containing chemicals. Besides, it can be used as underground conduits for potable water, raw water, sea water and in corrosive environments.
He said the manufacturers of GRP pipes should explore possibilities of setting up their plant in Karachi which would be feasible in view of the gigantic projects relating to water and sewerage system being undertaken by the city government across the city.
He regretted that the previous city government did not pay attention to the industrial areas’ infrastructure despite knowing the fact that industries did not only contributing 68 per cent of national revenues, but also provide jobs to a majority of population.
Speaking on the occasion, Nazim of North Karachi Town Hanif Surti, said that with a view to ensuring cleanliness in the industrial area, the town administration had decided to shift the slaughter house of North Karachi to a place near Northern Bypass.
NKIA Chairman Faraz Mirza expressed his gratitude to the city nazim for taking keen interest in improving infrastructure of the industrial area.
The ceremony was attended by Additional Vice-Chairmen of the KWSB Imamuddin Shahzad and Tayyab Hashmi, MD of the Board Brig Iftikhar Haider, nazims of town of UCs and a large number of industrialists.
