KARACHI, June 26: The persistent heavy downpour since Saturday’s storm claiming over 200 lives and the fears of cyclone on Tuesday coupled with massive power outages crippled commercial and industrial activities in the city.
Majority of markets on Tuesday wore a deserted look and industrial units witnessed massive plunge in workers’ attendance hitting production.
In Sabzi Mandi on Super Highway, arrival of trucks loaded with vegetables and fruits from various parts of the country have declined sharply besides huge losses to dealers owing to damage to their consignments by frequent heavy rains.
Site Industrial area has recorded 50 per cent fall in production followed by only 20-30 per cent industrial activities in North Karachi, 70 per cent in Korangi area and 50 per cent decline in F.B. Industrial area.
Local supplies to the markets and procurement of raw materials by the industrialists had also been affected owing to very thin movement of goods’ transport.
Chairman Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (Kati), Masood Naqi said that owing to 50 per cent decline in movement of goods’ transport many export consignments faced inordinate delay.
He added that 25 per cent of the 4,500 units did not have power generation facilities while only 10 per cent units had their own captive power generation. Around 50 per cent of the commercial and small units did not have power generating facility. KESC continued to play hide and seek and it was hard to reach optimum level of production.
However, he said unskilled workers usually hailed from Landhi, Korangi, Shah Faisal, Malir etc but their presence had been thin during the last two days especially on Tuesday.
Chairman Site Association of Industry, Imran Shaukat said that the labour presence had been short by 25-30 per cent in the last two days resulting in 50 per cent cut in productivity.
He said power failures had severely hit industrial activities. Out of three big transformers one had been out of commission since Monday night. Out of 59 total feeders, 22 had been closed since Tuesday morning. He said export shipments had been delayed due to domestic logistics problems.
Chairman North Karachi Association of Trade and Industry (Nkati), Faraz Mirza said that production activities had been hardly recorded at 10 per cent on Tuesday while it had ranged between 20-30 per cent on Monday.
“Lack of ample power supply can be blamed for poor industrial activities,” he said adding that 60 per cent units out of total 2,500 units might have stand-by generators but they could not be operated for longer duration. The area had been facing acute power crisis since Saturday.
Chairman F.B. Area Association of Trade and Industry (FBATI), Masroor Ahmed Alvi said that the area had registered only 50 per cent workers’ attendance since Saturday while the rest of the production damage had been done by the KESC.
The area was even starved of water and the drainage system had also collapsed. The KESC did not rectify the faults as it had shifted its preference to residential areas from industrial units, he added.
However, he said that out of 2,000, some 80 per cent units had stand-by power generators but they could not be run round the clock.
Masroor said that export shipments were delayed and supplies from mills to the local markets also fell sharply.
Acting president Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), Saqib Nasim said city’s normal life along with its business and industrial activities had been ruined because of the KESC’s technical staff inefficiency and negligence. He urged the prime minister and governor Sindh to intervene and seriously resolve the problem.
SUBZI MANDI: President Falahi Anjuman Wholesale Vegetable Market Haji Shahjehan said that the arrival of trucks arrival had declined to 300-400 daily since Monday from 800-1,000 earlier. This was a peak season for trucks arriving with loads of fruits and vegetable as out of 1,000 trucks some 300-400 trucks brought mangoes to the mandi.
He said huge quantities of tomato, onion, coriander, spinach, peach, water melon, etc had perished owing to heavy rains, causing an estimated loss of Rs30 million. These quantities used to arrive in 300 trucks daily.
“Arrival of buyers in the market has declined to 70 per cent since Monday owing to filthy situation inside the Sabzi Mandi due to heavy rains,” he said.
He said only mangoes and potatoes were not spoiled by rains though mango becomes costlier. But other commodities cannot preserve their quality after getting soaked by rain water.
He said the onion exports, which had been going smooth with daily shipment of 300-400 containers for the last one month at a price ranging between $200-220 per ton to Colombo, Malaysia and the Middle East, might be affected.
Shahjehan further said that short supply of commodities from the upcountry, especially from Balochistan and Sindh area might result in pushing up the rates this week depending on the rain situation.
MARKETS: Chairman Alliance of Markets Association (AMA), Atiq Mir said that 80-90 per cent of the 500 markets in Karachi had remained shut on Tuesday owing to fear of cyclone, intermittent rains throughout the day and over 200 deaths because of Saturday’s storm.
About 10 per cent buyers turned up as many traders had left early to their homes on Tuesday. Even business activities on Monday had been below average. The power failures had combined with inclement weather to hit the trading activities.
He said traders had suffered an income loss of Rs2.5-3 billion on Monday and Tuesday owing to extremely thin buyers’ presence. “The markets recorded hardly 10 per cent of buyers on Monday and Tuesday,” he added.
Chairman Karachi Wholesaler Grocers Group (KWGG), Anis Majeed said that buying and selling in pulses, rice, wheat and sugar remained almost negligible, especially on Tuesday and there has been no activity in wholesale market on Monday also.
Traders had come to their offices but they did not indulge in business as these commodities were transported in open trucks.
