HYDERABAD, June 7: The Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) on Thursday expressed the fear that the Sindh government’s plan to construct another Sabzi Mandi near Northern Bypass in Karachi would meet failure if it was not constructed on modern lines.

In a communication addressed to the prime minister, a copy of which was obtained by Dawn, the board’s vice-president Imdad Ali Nizamani said that in spite of tall claims Pakistan had failed to develop even a single mandi according to international standards.

It was being said that the proposed Sabzi Mandi at the Northern Bypass would be equipped with all the modern facilities but it was highly unlikely to be different from other mandis developed in the past, he said.

He said that the mandi would be spread over an area of 100 acres consisting of 2,000 shops. The number of shops spoke volumes about poor planning because such a large number of shops could not be constructed on such a small area.

Citing examples, he said that in Dubai 225 shops had been constructed on 100 acres, in Brisbane (Australia) 146 shops had been constructed on 178 acres, in Berlin (Germany) 60 shops on 70 acres and in Belgium 64 shops on 40 acres.

Throughout the world countries did not lay emphasis on having more shops but they preferred to have more facilities such as proper storage and distribution of fruits and vegetables, he said.

But in Pakistan, the planners focussed mostly on having as more shops as possible in the market.

Even a large number of delegations the federal government had sent abroad to study modern markets had failed to come up with any viable and concrete suggestions, he regretted.

Mr Nizamani cited the New Sabzi Mandi Karachi on the Super Highway and said that had it been constructed according to PC-I, it would have emerged as one of the finest Sabzi Mandis of Asia, but the whole project ended up in a fiasco after the project’s executors flouted PC-I.

The main objective of a mandi was to make available fresh and healthy fruits and vegetables to people and enhance exports but regretfully no mandi in Pakistan could fulfil the requirements.

He feared that the new project, which was being launched without taking their suggestions into consideration, would not produce desired results and urged the prime minister to ensure that the project was constructed on modern lines.