KARACHI, May 14: The bloody violence on May 12 followed by holidays on Sunday and Monday paralysed the commercial activities and industrial productivity in the city. Industry people expect a production loss of Rs2.5 billion per day suffered by over 11,500 units and similar loss in terms of export per day.
Industrialists said that exports had been hit hard since Saturday, resulting in delay in timely shipments and rescheduling of future shipments depending on the city situation from Tuesday onward.
All the leading markets of the city have been closed since May 12 and the traders said that it will take sufficient time to witness recovery of consumers’ sentiments.
Whenever untoward incidents occur in the city the real sufferers are the daily wagers who are deprived of their daily earnings.
Of the 2.5 million workers employed in over 11,500 industrial units in the four main industrial estates of the city, more than 50 per cent are either daily wage earners or employed on contract basis.
Chairman Alliance of Market Association (AMA) Atiq Mir said that Karachi had an estimated 1.2 million daily wagers in the markets and bazaars. The city has over 500 markets and shops in these markets range between 100,000-200,000. “I think that shopkeepers and traders have suffered a loss of over Rs5 billion since May 12 in terms of sales,” he said.
The business community had already sounded a note of caution to the Sindh government and had requested for ensuring proper security on May 12. Now the businessmen are highly concerned over the impact of May 12 tragedy on days to come and said that they could not sustain further production and trading losses.
Chairman Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (Kati) Masood Naqi was of the view that the production and export losses per day of over 11,500 units are estimated at Rs5 billion a day since Saturday last.
“We had made stand-by arrangements by declaring Saturday as holiday resuming work on Sunday but no workers turned up,” he said.
He said that industrialists had not planned production schedule for Tuesday as much depends on the attendance of workers as there were reports of public transport strike.
He was of the view that declaring holiday on Monday was a right decision of the Sindh government, which aimed at controlling the tense situation.
Chairman North Karachi Association of Trade and Industry (NKATI) Faraz Mirza said that there was a complete stoppage of industrial production in his area resulting in disruption of export shipments to their respective destinations.
Chairman F.B. Area Association of Trade and Industry (FBATI), Masroor Ahmed Alvi said that 100 per cent units were closed on Monday and even on Saturday. “The tense environment created by May 12 events will take weeks to recover,” he said.
President Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), Majyd Aziz said that the image of Karachi, which had recovered in the last few years, had been tarnished again and will take a long time to improve in the minds of foreign investors.
Former Chairman Site Association of Industry, Ameen Bandukda said that the production activities had been suspended since May 12. “Local investors are now panicky in making investment in Karachi,” he said adding that the unfortunate events have given bad signals to the foreign buyers.
KARACHI, May 14: The bloody violence on May 12 followed by holidays on Sunday and Monday paralysed the commercial activities and industrial productivity in the city. Industry people expect a production loss of Rs2.5 billion per day suffered by over 11,500 units and similar loss in terms of export per day.
The business community had already sounded a note of caution to the Sindh government and had requested for ensuring proper security on May 12. Now the businessmen are highly concerned over the impact of May 12 tragedy on days to come and said that they could not sustain further production and trading losses.
