Karachi’s crime-ridden, neglected industrial zones

KARACHI: Azan Naveed Ahmed, a mechanical engineer, had a very good job offer at a plant in the Site Area, one of the largest industrial zones in Karachi; however, he refused that job, and is now working at a consultancy firm at Sharea Faisal.

“It was a lucrative offer with vast growth opportunities, but my parents didn’t want me to go to the Site area every day,” Azan said, adding that the infrastructure and security situation in these industrial areas was not a secret.

This is not just one story. Several qualified and bright young men and women are reluctant to have jobs in the most neglected industrial zones, as they fear being deprived of their belongings and even their lives travelling to their workplaces and back.

Javed Bilwani, chairman of Gatron Industries, said that the street crimes were on the rise.

“The situation was never better in industrial zones. Every day we hear about our staff members and workers at other factories being looted.”

“This is the reason most people are not willing to work in industrial areas. Everybody wants to work on Sharea Faisal and DHA.”

Security is not the only issue for these zones. There are broken roads, garbage dumps everywhere, unavailability of utilities and extortion.

Jahangir Ahmed, a merchandiser at a textile unit in the Quaidabad Area, said he had to get the suspension of his car fixed on a regular basis.

“You see, the patching does not fix the roads. There are some roads where I feel like driving on a staircase. I live in Gulshan-e-Iqbal and reaching my office is quite tiresome.”

There are nine industrial areas in Karachi, including Bin Qasim Industrial Zone, Federal B Industrial Area, Karachi Export Processing Zone (KEPZ), Korangi Creek Industrial Park, Korangi Industrial Area, North Karachi Industrial Area, Pakistan Textile City, Site Industrial Area and West Wharf Industrial Area.

In September last year, Karachi Administrator Murtaza Wahab vowed to resolve the problems of the industrial areas. During his visit to the Site Association’s office, Wahab said that the work on 17 under-construction roads in the Site Area would be completed in the current financial year.

He also assured sewerage problems in the area would be addressed, while work was under way to supply required water to the Site Area. However, nothing changed. Industries still have to buy water tankers, which now costs Rs15,000/tanker; the roads are still in dilapidated condition; security situation has worsened; and extortion by the government agencies has increased.

Sabir Shaikh, who runs a motorcycle assembling plant in North Karachi Industrial Zone, said: “Running an industrial unit in Karachi is a nightmare.”

“The road infrastructure is the worst in Karachi’s industrial zones, while unavailability of water and other utilities jacks up the cost of production. You can’t run a business without the Bhatta and Parchi (extortion). These are paid to civic authorities and the law-enforcement agencies without any receipt or invoice, of course.”

Shaikh said most of the plots in industrial zones had been taken by investors on discounted rates but they never setup plants on these plots, and eventually these pieces of land fell into the hands of the mafia.

“The value of these vacant plots keep rising, making it difficult for the genuine investors to establish factories or expand their businesses.”

It is quite understandable that the investments to improve institutions, services and infrastructure will further enhance the city’s contribution to the country’s economy and the people’s wellbeing. Yet, there was no positive growth in decades as far as infrastructure and amenities are concerned.

“Development is nowhere; security and infrastructure is the worst; there is no water, gas and electricity for the industries. Besides, transport is the biggest issue for the staff,” he said.

Bilwani recalled that there was a time when there were trains and trams, while roads were maintained.

“Not all workers and staff have their own conveyance, while the company transport is not usually available for all,” Bilwani said, adding that travelling in buses and rickshaws on these roads drains the energy of employees, adversely impacting their productivity.

“Due to these issues, our cost of production multiplies. Besides, foreign buyers are reluctant to come here and visit the plants. I can’t tell you how embarrassed we feel when we get foreign buyers on a tour to the industrial zone and factories. Karachi is the financial and industrial capital of Pakistan. As of 2020, the city has an estimated GDP of $164 billion. It accounts about half of the total collection of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and contributes around 30 per cent of the value-addition in large-scale manufacturing.

Mirza Ikhtiyar Baig, chairman of Baig Group of Companies, said that the infrastructure in industrial areas is totally damaged and obsolete.

“Due to dilapidated roads, logistics is very difficult. Factories receive and dispatch several containers every day, which is an uphill task given the road infrastructure and encroachments,” he said, adding that it was a roller-coaster ride on the roads and containers often fell off the trucks, even there were casualties.

“There has been no development at all. The infrastructure was never replaced. Whenever the industrialists raise hue and cry, little patch work is done on the roads, and some minister visits the industrial areas to deliver a political speech along with the promises to resolve these issues at the earliest,” Baig added.

Talking about the security issues, he said the authorities do not consider snatching and looting an issue any more. “The employees are looted every other day, even the salaries of the employees were robbed,” he added.

If a city holds a central place in a country’s economy despite all the violent and risky security dynamics, political corruption, shortages of utilities and dilapidated infrastructure, imagine what wonders it can create if provided with required facilities.