Call for new industrial zone in Hyderabad

According to Dawn, the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has voiced concern that no new industrial zone has been developed in Hyderabad even as its population keeps rising. In a statement issued on Tuesday, FPCCI Executive Committee member Adeel Siddiqui warned that this gap poses a serious threat to the city's economy and social fabric. He noted that the only industrial zone, the SITE area set up in 1952, has 665 units, of which about 450 are working.

He said the existing SITE has been left to decline despite being Sindh's second-largest industrial zone, with broken roads and weak water and drainage services hampering factories. He added that land values there have climbed steeply, so a new plant now requires heavy spending on land, leaving less money for machinery and operations. He warned that without affordable new zones, Hyderabad will struggle to attract fresh investment or generate jobs.

The FPCCI also referred to over Rs1.5 trillion in infrastructure cess collected on imports across five years and called for the use of those funds to be made public. An amount of Rs1.10 billion has been approved for road and drainage works, yet the federation said progress is not visible.