ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has asked the government to earmark an area in the Islamabad Capital Territory to set up a new industrial estate so that the increasing demand of local investors could be met.
In a statement issued by the chamber on Monday, ICCI President Muhammad Ahmed Waheed said that the existing industrial areas in Islamabad were now short of space for new industrial units, which necessitated a new industrial zone in the region.
He urged the government to establish an industrial estate in the federal capital in consultation with ICCI to promote investment and industrial activities.
He said with the efforts of ICCI, the Capital Development Authority had many years ago earmarked Sector I-17 for industrial estate and that land acquisition process had also started in this regard. “But CDA has now changed the master plan of Islamabad by re-designating I-17 from industrial to institutional use in order to set up a medical city.”
However, he added, no alternative area was allocated for industrial estate due to which the local industrialists were facing problems in expanding their businesses.
Ahmed Waheed said that owing to non-availability of a new industrial estate in the capital, many investors of the region were shifting their businesses. “Therefore, the establishment of a new industrial zone in Islamabad is the need of the hour.”
