KARACHI, Nov 30: City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal on Thursday said the development of industrial areas of Karachi was not just a political slogan but it was a part of his priorities.

“We have started development work in these areas with thorough planning besides the allocation of a major chunk as the development of these areas means development of Karachi and Pakistan at large,” Mr Kamal said while meeting a delegation of the North Karachi Association of Trade and Industry (NKATI).

“For the first time in the history of Karachi the city government is spending billions of rupees from its own resources on the development works in these areas,” he said.

The delegation was led by NKATI chairman Faraz Mirza, who called on him at the nazim’s office and discussed the problems faced by them. New Karachi Town Nazim Hanif Soorti, chairman of Works and Services Committee Mehmoodul Hassan, city government officers and office-bearers of NKATI were also present at the meeting.

The delegation briefed the nazim on the construction and repair of roads, especially the 9000 Road, Abbas Nagar Road, double-track road, drainage system, cleaning of storm and sewerage drains, shifting of slaughterhouse, setting of new fire station, improvement of infrastructure, removing of encroachments in the Godhra area and other problems of the area.

“I myself make surprise visits in these areas especially at midnight to review the pace of work. It is the first time in the history of Karachi that development works have been started on a large scale to utilize the city government’s own resources as no government in the past had focused on these areas and ignored these parts of the city as they could not politically benefit from these areas as the majority of the workers working in these industries come from other parts of the metropolis,” Mr Kamal said.

He said the present city government after taking power had showed keen interest in developing these industrial areas and also started a number of development projects more than done in the last 59 years. “We are also building world-class infrastructure of water, sewerage, roads, treatment plant and others in these areas”, he stated.

He said the work on Road 9000 in North Karachi would be kicked off next month as a tender of Rs500 million had been invited while the carpeting would be done on the roads where it would be deemed necessary.

He said the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board had been instructed to repair the broken mains and also replace old faulty pipelines of water and sewerage before the construction of roads.

Mr Kamal also pointed out that a comprehensive study would be conducted in the industrial area of North Karachi for a treatment plant as the treated water would be utilized there. He said the slaughterhouse located in the area would be shifted to Northern Bypass while a fire station would be established at the same place.

He asked industrialists to cooperate with city government officials in the wake of cleanliness arrangements and the factory owners should drop the waste at one place where the concerned town administration would dispose it of at the landfill.

He also suggested businessmen to hold a meeting of their members and invite the North Karachi Town Nazim, too, for the improvement of sanitation in the industrial area. “The task would be taken as a role model for other industrial zones of the city as it will not be achieved without cooperation of the people”, he said.