Khoja stated that the National Highway Authority has been willing to initiate this project since the last four years. PHOTO: EXPRESS/ FILE
The Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI) urged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to take notice of the delay in M9 motorway project that is supposed to connect Hyderabad and Karachi. Turab Ali Khoja, senior vice president of the HCCI demanded that the government should issue the orders of an immediate implementation of this project.
Khoja stated that the National Highway Authority has been willing to initiate this project since the last four years. Two foreign companies also entered into a contract to construct the highway; however those contracts were shortly abolished. He expressed his concerns over the heavy cargo and public traffic, stating that uneven and damaged sections of the highway cause accidents and damage the vehicles.
He elaborated further that although the National Highway Authority is collecting heavy toll tax since 1992, the highway patchwork and re-carpeting has received poor attention. Khoja said that Super Highway is the main artery of the national economy since all the imports and exports of the country received through sea ports in Karachi are transported through this highway to the other parts of the country.
“The Sindh government should realise the importance of maintaining the Super Highway and the National Highway, and it should also restrict political parties from staging sit-ins and agitations on these projects in order to save the economy of our country. This not only creates problems in transporting import and export goods but also results in difficulties for citizens travelling in public or private transportation,” Khoja said.
Khoja further said that HCCI is trying hard to establish Export Processing Zones in Hyderabad. These zones are gaining importance in order to increase the amount of exports from the industrial areas in Hyderabad and Kotri.
A liaison office of Export Processing Zone Authority (EPZA) has also been established in the main secretariat of the HCCI so that industrialists and investors can take advantage from these zones.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 31st, 2013.
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