20000304

Azim calls for joint

public, private sector

efforts

for economic recovery

RECORDER REPORT

HYDERABAD: Sindh Governor Azim Daudpota has stressed the need for concerted efforts by the entire nation to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

He was addressing industrialists and members of the Nooriabad Association of Trade and Industry at Nooriabad, about 55 kilometres from here, on Friday.

He said that cooperation between public and private sectors could bring about positive and productive changes in the economic field.

He said the wrong economic policies pursued by the politicians had all but destroyed the economy of the country, and added that it was due to these policies that Pakistan was in debt to the tune of billions of dollars.

The Governor pointed out that financial structural changes were taking place all over the world which necessitated that Pakistan should reset its priorities to meet the needs of the present age.

He said the present government had undertaken an extremely difficult task of poverty alleviation in order to improve the living standard of teeming millions who are forced to live below the poverty line.

He said that the Chief Executive, General Pervez Musharraf, had directed the army to provide cooked food (langar) to the people of calamity and drought affected areas, especially of the Thar Desert.

Daudpota said that the present government had taken a number of steps for the development of the country, and added that positive results would be witnessed by the people in due course of time.

About the problems being faced by the Nooriabad industrial trading estate, the Governor assured the entrepreneurs that the government was not oblivious to these problems. He, however, exhorted the industrialists to try to remove the bottlenecks on self-help, basis beside government's efforts.

He pointed out that by promoting local manufacturing, a huge amount could be saved in foreign exchange, and added that instead of lop-sided development, the present government was striving for the development of all areas of the country.

In his address of welcome, the Chairman of Nooriabad Association of Industry, Yasin Siddique, said that non-supply of gas for power generators of different industrial units of Nooriabad Site was creating insurmountable problems for the industrialists. He regretted that while all other industrial estates of the country were enjoying the facility of gas, Nooriabad was lacking this important facility.

He asked for fiscal incentives for Nooriabad and said that income tax holiday should be granted for five years to encourage the establishment of maximum industries at Nooriabad.

The Managing Director of Sindh Industrial Trading Estates (Site), Mir Hassan, informed the Governor that the Site Limited, which was established in 1947, had so far set up seven industrial estates in the province and also provided basic infrastructure.

He said Nooriabad was an ideal estate for agro-based and other industries as it was located on Super Highway and near to the seaport and airport.

He said the Site had provided infrastructural facilities to the Nooriabad Estate, such as roads, tube-wells, street lights, digital telephone exchange, labour colony, sports complex and a plant for the disposal of industrial effluent.

He said that more industrial unit could be set up if tax holiday and gas facilities were provided to the entrepreneurs and law and order situation was improved.

The chairman of Dadabhoy Group of Companies, Mohamamd Hussain Dadabhoy, said that the estate was designed for 2000 industries but many industrialists had got their plots cancelled because of non-availability of infrastructure facilities. He said that the estate had great potential due to its ideal location.