KARACHI, Jan 25: Sindh governor Mohammadmian Soomro has said that Sindh industrial areas have started attracting foreign investment and a Chinese investor has set up a garment unit in SITE Kotri, providing job avenues to 300 girls, while another garment factory is under construction by a Taiwanese investor.
To lure more investment, the government, he said, had also resolved the issue of allotment of plots in Site Superhighway Phase-II, which had been pending for a decade. Around 1,100 plots were being allotted by the Site, Karachi, he said.
In a dinner meeting with members of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), on Thursday, the governor said two special industrial zones (SIZs) at Nawabshah and Nooriabad are being developed where all facilities including water, electricity and sui gas have been provided. In Nawabshah, a mega project — Chemi Viscos worth Rs2.25 billion—is near completion. The work for supply of Sui gas at Site, Nooriabad, will be completed by March 2002.
The government, he said, has also planned to set up SIZs for small investors in interior Sindh.
He urged the private sector to make full use of opportunities, make investment and guide the government in enhancing economic stability in the country. “Please take initiatives in the right direction without waiting for the ideal conditions,” he said.
On September 11 incident, he said, it has both merits and demerits. The event has affected “our large scale manufacturing, exports and revenues but on the other side, this development has provided opportunities like lifting of sanctions, restoration of aid, increase in quota by 15 per cent to EU countries, gaining of rupee strength against the dollar and rising foreign exchange reserves up to $5 billion.
He hoped that bottlenecks would prove temporary and short-lived and very soon, the country’s economic recovery process would be geared up to its optimal level.
He said the financial crisis in Sindh is over and the province is no more borrowing through overdrafts from the State Bank.
On local taxes, the Governor did not agree with the President KCCI, A.Q. Khalil’s view that the property tax has been increased manifold. The fact, Soomro said, is that the government has updated and improved the valuation system through the consultation of stake holders.
He said that Karachi Circular Railway will be revived through the participation and cooperation of the corporate sector. In this regard, the Sindh government has appointed consultants to study various options like BOT and BOOT.
On the KESC, he said the main problem now is pilferage. Line losses have been reduced. On other issues, he said, water problem is still alarming and asked the business community to prepare comprehensive projects and conduct study for setting up desalination plants or recycling plants in the city.
He defended the proposed levy of sea tax in order to ensure that the performance of the city government must not be handicapped for want of funds as there is a wide gap between the revenue and the expenditure both in federal and provincial governments. He said that the sea tax will help improve the infrastructure of the city.
However, Chamber members urged the Governor that the sea tax should not be confined to a particular sector and it must be imposed on every container landed in Pakistan.
President KCCI, A.Q. Khalil, said that the rate of population growth in Karachi is six per cent as compared to three per cent in Pakistan due to influx of people from interior and other provinces in search of job. Therefore, the allocation of funds for Karachi should be on the higher side.