ISLAMABAD: Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) President Muhammad Ahmed Waheed has said that despite the government’s announcement to open the construction industry, construction-related industries including steel and pipe manufacturers have not been allowed to operate in the federal capital, which was creating great concerns in the sector’s business community.
He was afraid that further delay in opening the construction sector in Islamabad would render over 20,000 workers jobless.
Muhammad Ahmed Waheed said that for the last more than one month, industries and businesses were closed in Islamabad and industrialists were paying wages to workers from their own pockets.
However, this could not be done for a long time as without production activities, keeping labour on payroll would be a big challenge.
He said that closed production activities took almost two months in getting back to normal operations and warned that if construction sector was not opened immediately, all construction projects in Islamabad would suffer and unemployment would further increase.
The ICCI President said that KPK has opened the construction sector and due to closure of the construction industry in Islamabad, ongoing construction projects were purchasing construction material from other provinces.
This situation would cause further damage to the construction industries of the federal capital. He urged that local administration should take notice of this situation and urgently allow the opening of all construction related businesses otherwise, they would lose the benefit of the package announced by the government for the construction industry.
Tahir Abbasi Senior Vice President and Saif ur Rehman Khan Vice President ICCI said that due to lockdown, businesses and industries were on the verge of collapse. In these circumstances, the Prime Minister had taken a wise decision to open the construction industry in the country.
They said that administration should finalize SOPs without further delay for the construction industry and open all construction-related industries in Islamabad including steel, pipe manufacturing and marble. It would provide jobs to a large number of jobless workers and reduce the difficulties of many families as well.
