ISLAMABAD: Developed countries had achieved fast economic growth by setting up industrial zones, but industrial activities in Islamabad were suffering at the hands of multiple problems, said Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) Acting President Saifur Rahman Khan on Friday.
Khan urged the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and Municipal Corporation Islamabad (MCI) to focus on better development of industrial areas so that the dream of rapid industrialisation could be realised.
He was talking to Islamabad Industrial Area Association Senior Vice President Muhammad Ali Mirza.
The ICCI acting president informed that the CDA’s board of directors, on the chamber’s recommendations, had approved amendments in industrial bylaws a few years ago. However, he lamented, the authority had neither notified the bylaws nor did it implement any.
He said that the CDA should issue a notification with regard to the amended bylaws approved by its board, as that “would facilitate the growth of industrial activities and create more jobs” in the region.
Khan assured that ICCI would cooperate with IIAA to resolve key issues of the local industry.
Speaking on the occasion, IIAA SVP Muhammad Ali Mirza recalled that the CDA in the past had cancelled some industrial plots on the pretext of ‘nonconforming use’. He demanded that the CDA should restore all such cancelled plots and allow multiple businesses on them to promote industrial activities.
He said that roads and footpaths in Islamabad industrial areas were broken, due to which heavy-duty vehicles were facing problems in the transportation of goods.
“Some streetlights are not working in industrial areas while the arrangements of sanitation and water supply are also unsatisfactory,” he complained.
Mirza emphasized that CDA and MCI should take solid measures to address those issues. “Industrial areas in Islamabad are providing jobs to thousands of people, but no serious effort was made to develop them on modern lines.”
