FPCCI leader questions Sindh 1.5tr cess use as roads remain broken

HYDERABAD: A member of the Executive Committee of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), Adeel Siddiqui, has criticised the condition of industrial infrastructure in Sindh, particularly in the Hyderabad and Kotri industrial estates, saying the situation remains poor despite the collection of more than Rs1.5 trillion in infrastructure cess on imports over the past five years.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Siddiqui, who is also a member of the ruling Businessmen Panel (Progressive) Supreme Council in the FPCCI, said industrialists were already dealing with federal-level challenges including high energy tariffs, changing interest rates and a complicated tax structure, while the Sindh government had failed to ensure basic civic facilities in industrial zones.

He said the road network in the Hyderabad and Kotri SITE areas had badly deteriorated even though thousands of trucks and containers pass through them daily. Siddiqui said industrial units were suffering losses because of transport delays, damage to vehicles and safety risks. He said, "Industrial units are incurring huge losses because of transportation delays, vehicle damage and safety hazards. In the 21st century, we are navigating potholes and broken roads like a war zone,"

Siddiqui said the Sindh government had imposed a 1.85 per cent infrastructure cess on imports and that the levy had yielded over Rs1.5tr during the last five years. He called for the details of the spending to be made public and questioned why the Hyderabad and Kotri industrial estates were still without the development they needed, saying the provincial government should explain the use of the funds to taxpayers and industrialists.

Longstanding issues in Hyderabad SITE

Infrastructure shortcomings have remained a persistent concern for industries operating in the Sindh Industrial Trading Estate (SITE), Hyderabad, where factories continue production despite insufficient water supply, damaged roads, weak drainage and the lack of functional treatment plants.

According to SITE officials, Hyderabad SITE was established in 1952 over 1,264 acres and contains around 665 industrial units, of which about 450 are functional. Most of these units are connected to the food sector, producing edible oil, pulses and rice for the agriculture-based economy of lower Sindh.

A SITE official said the main problems affecting the industrial area were water supply, drainage and treatment plants. He said work on internal roads and drainage had begun after a gap of more than a decade, but added that even the completion of current schemes would not fully meet the area’s infrastructure needs. He referred to projects worth Rs1.10 billion that are currently under way for road and drainage improvements.

Call for provincial facilitation mechanism

Siddiqui also raised concern over water shortages in some of Sindh’s largest industrial areas, saying many units had either reduced operations or were buying water through private tankers at high cost, which was making production less competitive.

He appealed to PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto and Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to create a provincial investment facilitation body on the pattern of the Special Investment Facilitation Council. He said such a body should have administrative and financial powers to address provincial issues including roads, water supply, sewerage, electricity and law and order in industrial zones.

He warned that industrialisation in Sindh would continue to decline without such intervention and urged the PPP chairman and the chief minister to visit the Hyderabad and Kotri industrial estates to see the state of infrastructure for themselves.