Official neglect stalls growth in Hyderabad SITE, says HCCI.

HYDERABAD -- Once considered a model industrial area, Hyderabad SITE has become a picture of neglect by government suffering from a host of issues that hamper sustained industrial growth, according to Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI) president Adeel Ahmed Siddiqui.

In a statement issued here on Wednesday Siddiqui urged the Sindh government to pay serious attention to Hyderabad's industrial area and appealed it to ensure allotment of plots to industrialists for which they had paid Rs25.5 million in advance 16 years back.

He said that over 400 industrial units existed in Sindh Industrial Trading Estate (SITE) but the area was hit by serious issues and needed massive reforms.

He said that the state of infrastructure in SITE was inadequate to meet the needs of functioning industrial units.

For instance, he said, water supply lines had developed leakages at many places before they reached the industrial area, forcing industrialists to turn to private tanker mafia to meet their water needs and they were getting contaminated water. The same was the case with drainage which reminded one that SITE was located in a slum area, he said.

He said that concrete drains were built only in a few sectors of SITE and it was not possible to save the area from getting inundated during rain.

Encroachments, he said, dotted the entire landscape of Hyderabad SITE as hotels and cabins had been sprung up to destroy industrial environment...