KARACHI, June 13: Business and industry have asked the Sindh government to immediately set up an independent ‘monitoring cell’ with a single agenda of watching progress in industrial projects being launched in the province from time to time.

“We feel that the province is fast losing its edge because of deteriorating law and order situation,” asserted a leading business leader.

The body should have representatives from private sector, bureaucracy and media that could monitor the progress on every industrial project being taken up in the province, suggested Abdul Razzak Teli, former chairman Quota Supervisory Council (QSC).

The monitoring cell, Mr Teli said, should be empowered to work as a jury and the departments and minister concerned should be answerable to this body having five members from each segment.

There was general consensus amongst business leaders that the foremost problem the province was facing in industrialization was the high cost of land followed by shortage of water, gas and electricity.

When the existing industry was confronted with these problems how one could expect that further industrialization would take place. There was greater need of some strong and independent body to take care of this issue, Mr Teli exhorted.

There was a growing concern amongst business community that the province of Sindh was victim of internal polarization and also lacked harmony within its own working systems which was hampering the progress and industrialization.

Due to high cost of industrial land most of the industries were either shifting to Punjab or failed to expand because no new industrial estates were being developed by the government, Shabir Ahmed chairman Pakistan Bedwear Exporters Association (PBEA) said.

“We keep talking about industrial parks and this city and that city but most of these projects, like garment and textile city, are still on papers,” Abdul Razzak Teli said.

With deterioration in educational system of the province in general and Karachi in particular the industry was also faced with shortage of skilled manpower and could not face the growing global challenges of the free market, Aslam Karsaz chairman Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association (PHMA) said.

He said that no fiscal and monetary measures could help if the government failed to provide basic needs like land, power, water and gas at reasonable rates and without any interruption to promote industrialization in the province.

The industry needs affluent treatment plants on private/public partnership. These plants should be located around clusters of industries all over the country and should charge industry for the service provided, he added.

Mr Karsaz said that each and every industrial unit could not afford to install its own affluent treatment plant which did not only cost heavily but also required large piece of land. It would be not only uneconomical but put extra burden on industry to run such plants individually.

Mr Razzak Teli suggested that new industrial estates should be developed in the suburbs of the city of Karachi and availability of water, gas and electricity should be ensured. Efforts should be made to reduce the bureaucratic hurdles and special cell should be entrusted with the task of monitoring progress on industrial units.

Pakistan was already far behind in its efforts to have its rightful share in the world of textiles and clothing trade, and most of the decisions being taken now should have been taken years back. “As a nation we should have focused approach for our economic goals.”