KARACHI: While drawing the attention of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif towards the plight of Karachi, industrialists have requested him to announce Rs100 billion special package to rebuild the infrastructure of the economic nerve-centre of the country.

The Karachi Industrial Forum (KIF) -- a body of seven associations namely Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI), Landhi Association of Trade and Industry (LATI), Bin Qasim Association of Trade and Industry (BQATI), North Karachi, SITE Superhighway, Federal B. Area and SITE Association of Trade and Industry -- made this demand at a joint press conference on Tuesday.

They observed that Karachi’s huge contribution to the national economy deserves proper attention from the federal and provincial governments towards its plight which can easily be seen in the shape of complete collapse of its industrial estates and infrastructure.

They pointed out that recent Ecnec meeting approved only Rs3bn for Karachi out of Rs100bn development projects, which is very unfortunate given the importance of the financial and industrial hub of the country.

They asked Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to hold a meeting with the KIF member associations to rebuild the industrial infrastructure because big businesses are shifting to other cities.

They also pointed out that motorway projects were being announced by the federal government but nobody was bothered about the Karachi-Sukkur Motorway.

The industry leaders also asked the Sindh government to improve roads and transport infrastructure to protect the industry from undue losses occurring from prolonged delays and hardships in transporting of goods.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2016