Industry body cautions prolonged disruption will cause factory closures, mass unemployment
KARACHI:
Industrial activity in the SITE area of Karachi has come to a halt since Friday evening due to the suspension of water supply, raising serious concerns about the impact on the national economy, said SITE Association of Industry President Ahmed Azeem Alvi on Saturday.
In a statement, Alvi cautioned that the shutdown of Karachi’s industries — the country’s largest revenue-generating sector — could cause irreparable damage not only to Sindh but also to Pakistan’s overall economy.
“It is alarming that industries considered the backbone of the national economy have been forced to shut down simply because water is unavailable,” he said, adding that Karachi had effectively been industrially paralysed due to the disruption.
The SITE Association president urged Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab and the water board managing director to take immediate steps to restore water supply to the industrial areas. He stressed that all issues related to sub-soil water provision should be resolved on a priority basis.
Alvi said that without water from sub-soil sources, industrial operations could not resume and any prolonged disruption would lead to factory closures, mass unemployment and a sharp decline in exports and national income.
