Ahmed Khan Malik

The Sindh government plans to upgrade and rehabilitate the infrastructure in the Hyderabad Industrial Estate as part of its policy to promote industrialisation in the province.

The government recently approved rehabilitation of roads and the drainage system in the industrial estate at a cost of Rs1,100 million, officials in the industries department told WealthPK.  They said the industrial estate, situated on the outskirts of Hyderabad city on the Tando Muhammad Khan Road, spreads over 100 acres of land. “It is home to glass bangles industries, oil mills, flour and Daal mills, plastic works, light engineering (six motorcycle assemblers, foundry and steel re-rolling mills etc).” 

Naveed Abro, additional director of the industries’ department, said that the scheme had been approved to rehabilitate the infrastructure in the area. He said that Hyderabad was the second largest city of Sindh, but it lags behind in terms of industrial production as the infrastructure constraints have kept the industrialists away from this city. Hyderabad has huge potential to become the industrial hub because of its close vicinity to the ports as well as to the interior parts of the province, which mainly rely on agriculture, he added. The industrialists in Hyderabad have been complaining about the apathy of the authorities towards resolving the issues related to utilities, roads, drainage and waste treatment.

They have expressed serious concern over the deteriorating condition of roads, which is significantly affecting business activities and causing local traders to incur daily losses in the millions. The provincial government had allocated Rs15 billion for the restoration of Hyderabad's infrastructure in the 2022-23 budget. However, no substantial or lasting work has been done in the past, the industrialists said, and hoped that the new project would be carried out speedily to transform the industrial estate, which is in a bad shape.  Mustafa Hussain, a leading industrialist in the estate, stressed the need for transparent use of funds allocated for the restoration of roads. He said that the quality of the projects must not be compromised.

He said that it should be ensured that inconvenience to citizens during the project’s execution was kept to the minimum and that repair and restoration work was completed in a timely manner so business activities can continue uninterrupted. He said the poor state of infrastructure was forcing many businesses to relocate to other areas. “If this situation is not addressed promptly, it can lead to even greater financial setbacks in the future, posing a serious threat to the economy of Hyderabad.” Hussain urged the provincial government to commence repair work on the roads immediately to alleviate the difficulties faced by the business community and residents. He also urged the government to expedite development projects and implement effective measures for infrastructure restoration to facilitate the city's progress.

Credit: INP-WealthPk