KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has supported the idea of setting up a provincial economic council to speed up industrialisation and increase job opportunities in the province.

The proposal for ‘Sindh Economic Council’ was floated by President Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI) Masood Naqvi at the annual dinner of the body held on Wednesday at Mohatta Palace.

The chief minister said setting up a provincial economic council was a good idea as it would help to bring all stakeholders on board to sort out industrial issues at a faster pace.

Assuring the industry that proposed SEC would be set up at the earliest, the chief minister said it will have members from industry, provincial finance department, local government and utility companies.

The chief minister noted that the biggest problem Sindh was faced with is the shortage of good human resource due to which different departments are not performing properly.

Indirectly criticising the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Mr Shah said in due course corruption has not decreased but rather increased. For this reason, the Sindh Assembly passed an ordinance for setting up a provincial accountability bureau, Mr Shah said.

The chief minister requested trade and industry leaders to be patient during October and Feb 2018 as a large number of infrastructure projects would be undertaken by the government.

He further promised to release development funds for industrial areas within a period of one month and urged industry leaders to complete all projects at the earliest.

The event was attended by Mayor Karachi Waseem Akhtar, FPCCI President Zubair Tufail and United Business Group patron-in-chief S M Muneer. Leading industrialists including Sardar Yasin Malik and Senator Abdul Haseeb Khan and many diplomats were present at the event.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2017