Oil tankers ready to move to new parking spot if facilities are provided

KMC says restaurant, workshops will be built but much later.

KARACHI: The owners of oil tankers and their drivers are ready to shift their vehicles from Shireen Jinnah Colony to Zulfikarabad if the administration gives them all the necessities.

The government has set up the 200-acre Zulfikarabad Oil Tankers Terminal in the outskirts of the city on National Highway to clear Shireen Jinnah Colony of heavy traffic. “We are ready to shift to the Zulfikarabad terminal but not to a jungle,” said Hazrat Ali Afridi, a senior vice-president of the All Pakistan Oil Tankers Owners Association (APOTOA).

“The government has to provide basic facilities, such as water, electricity, fire stations, a dispensary, washrooms, bank, mosque, plots for workshops, shops and a hotel along with security and boundary walls around the terminal,” he listed down his demands. Afridi added that the area is under the influence of robbers, who steal diesel from their parked vehicles.



According to Afridi, over 2,500 oil tankers enter and leave the temporary parking space at Shireen Jinnah Colony every day, while around 1,000 oil tankers are filled on a daily basis by the Oil Marketing Companies. His association has a total of 40,000 oil tankers in the country, out of which 11,000 operate within Karachi and also carry oil from the city to the rest of the county.

“We have a parking facility for 1,000 oil tankers at Shireen Jinnah Colony,” he said, clarifying that all their tankers are not in the city at all times. “We need parking for around 3,000 tankers as the remaining tankers are always travelling to other parts of the country.” If the government ensures all the facilities he listed, the parking space in Shireen Jinnah will be freed and the tankers will only come to fill up.

According to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), levelling the surface at the Zulfikarabad terminal was phase one of the project. An overhead water tank and an underground water tank along with 48 washrooms, a prayer area, a retiring shed and 36-foot-wide entrance road has been constructed in the terminal, said KMC technical services director-general Niaz Soomro.

In the second phase, the pavement of the terminal will be completed in another six months. “The boundary wall and a police check-post are also under construction,” he said. “The terminal can be used for parking in the present condition because the area has been demarcated for this purpose.”

Meanwhile, the workshops in Shireen Jinnah Colony are ready to relocate as well. The area’s shop owners association has submitted a survey report to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) about the 1,100 workshops, said its chairperson, Mehboob Khan Mehsud. “We are waiting for KMC to allot plots at reasonable prices at the Zulfikarabad terminal,” he said. “We can build our workshops and shift there in two months provided that the KMC comes through.”

KMC’s Soomro pointed out that the government has allotted 50 acres for allied businesses, such as workshops and restaurants but these are included in the third phase. He said the KMC has prepared a plan, which needs the approval of the city administrator and other stakeholders.

Following the Supreme Court orders on Thursday to remove the oil tankers and other encroachments from Shireen Jinnah Colony within three days, the traffic police have started removing broken-down tankers and empty tanks from Marine Promenade — the road that runs along the beach in Clifton.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 30^th, 2013.