Traders seek industrial zone in Sector I-17

Many plots in Sector I-9 industrial area being used as warehouses, offices

ISLAMABAD: Traders in the federal capital on Wednesday are trying to convince the civic administration of the city to set up a new industrial zone in Sector I-17 since many plots in existing estates were being used as either warehouses or offices.

Sources claimed that the Capital Development Authority (CDA) had auctioned off plots in Sector I-9 - set up as an industrial estate - at cheap rates on the commitment that industries will be set up there and will ultimately help create job and economic opportunities.

Instead, the buyers built large warehouses and offices, sources said, adding that non-conforming use of plots in the Sector I-9 industrial area is quite common.

Meanwhile, The Express Tribune learnt that a group of industrialists in the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) want Sector I-17 to be earmarked as an industrial zone instead of implementing CDA by-laws for using plots in Sector I-9 for the purpose they were allotted for.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, ICCI President Muhammad Ahmed Waheed demanded that the government re-allocate Sector I-17 as an industrial zone.

Waheed contended that there was no room in the Sector I-9 industrial estate to set up new industries and even if it was, the investors are unwilling to purchase plots there due to their exorbitant rates.

The ICCI president said that the allocation of a new industrial estate in the federal capital was the need of the hour given the relaxation offered to the construction sector by the federal government during the lockdown, imposed to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19).

Unemployment, he said, has surged due to the lockdown but it could be offset by setting up new industries.

The ICCI president recalled that a decade ago, Sector I-17 had been allocated as an industrial zone and locals were also paid compensation for the acquisition of their lands. However, the sector was later de-notified as a business hub for unidentified reasons.

“ICCI had recommended setting up a new industrial zone in Islamabad however the CDA said that it had no vacant land in the federal capital,” Waheed said.

He said that the condition of existing industrial sectors of Islamabad has also deteriorated while Kahuta Industrial Triangle is still deprived of basic amenities despite the passage of several years.

He urged Finance Advisor Dr Hafeez Sheikh to re-allocate Sector I-17 as an industrial estate to promote industrialisation in the area and allocate funds in the next budget for its establishment. 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 28^th, 2020.