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KARACHI, Aug 2: Private sector members inducted into the scrutiny committee to review recommendations concerning the grant of state land for non-agricultural purposes are frustrated with the committee’s functioning and their own role, Dawn has learnt.
“We had been agitating about there being too many hurdles in the way of making land available at the right prices for industrial purposes,” said Siraj Kassam Teli, a private sector member of the scrutiny committee and former president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KCCI).
“That is how the KCCI was brought into all this. But we are just two people up against the government which is in the majority. We see a lot of projects but nothing seems to move ahead.”
Mr Teli complained that “we [the private members] do not have the expertise to comment on housing, commercial or other projects that have nothing to do with industry, but we are nevertheless forced to remark on those aspects too.”
He added that “instead of doing proper research, the bureaucracy at the lower levels leaves everything to the committee and there is no proper organisation in the land utilisation department and its secretariat. They usually give us less that 24 hours’ notice to attend a meeting, which leaves us no time in which to study the cases. Because of this, meetings drag on for up to eight hours.”
Mr Teli pointed out that he and Haroon Farooki, another former KCCI president who is the other private sector member of the committee, are businessmen and have significant other demands on their time. “If sometimes we cannot attend a meeting, the entire blame for slowing the process down is put on the private sector,” he said.
The two private sector members on the scrutiny committee complained to the Sindh chief minister about these matters, as well as the Board of Revenue’s shortcomings. “He asked us to send in our proposals about correcting the loopholes in the committee, but the summary we prepared six months ago has still not been sent to him,” Mr Teli informed Dawn.
“There should be separate committees for separate proposals with more than one professional in those fields.”
In sharp contrast, the scrutiny committee member and Secretary of the Land Utilisation Department, Board of Revenue, Government of Sindh, Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui, said that the scrutiny committee is doing a marvellous job.
“It is a broad-based system with proper evaluation criteria, making objective decisions,” he enthused.
“Anyone in the committee can raise an objection and allotting precious government land is no longer a one-man decision.”
Private sector representatives have been inducted into the scrutiny committee under Section 8-1(b) of the government of Sindh Land Utilisation Department’s notification dated February 25, 2006, and published in the Extraordinary Sindh Government Gazette. The clause states that in addition to five government representatives, the scrutiny committee will consist of “two representatives of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, one of them shall be from the real estate business, to process the market price proposed by the Price Committee and make recommendation to the government in this behalf.”
The scrutiny committee currently comprises private sector representatives Mr Teli and Mr Farooki, secretary of the Land Utilisation Department, Mr Siddiqui, senior member of the Board of Revenue, Anwar Hyder, the chairman of the Investment Cell, Chief Minister’s Secretariat, Muslim Abbasi, the Secretary Finance and one secretary from any of the concerned government departments, ie Industries, Education, Health, Housing or Cooperatives.
The policy that came into force last February works on two levels. The available land is categorised and prices are settled at the executive district officer (EDO) level, and the Board of Revenue level, ie the scrutiny committee, takes it from there, said Mr Teli, who was earlier a member of the pricing committee at the EDO level.
The government’s purpose in revising the Sindh land utilisation policy is to generate socio-economic activity and employment opportunities, said Mr Siddiqui.
“Industry is good, since in addition to providing jobs, it increases export which brings in more money for the country,” he commented. “The government has a vision and a mission to support industrialisation as well as community-based projects such as places of worship, schools, colleges, hospitals and housing.”
But before these ideals can be realised, much work needs to be done. According to former KCCI president and member of the scrutiny board Mr Farooki, “the land utilisation system needs to be redefined. If the government really wants to see industry flourish here, it should have an across-the-board system that will also include those people who already have land on 30-year leases. They should be given a one-time opportunity to convert their leases into 99-year leases since that will help the pace of industrialisation.”
The chairman of the chief minister’s investment cell and permanent member of the scrutiny committee, Muslim Abbasi, believes that small-medium enterprises (SMEs) should be developed. “They are the economy’s backbone,” he said, “an educated, talented lot, the people involved in small industries do not have collateral and the job market is not picking up simply because we are not developing small industries.”
