It is extremely unfortunate that the government is reluctant to revive the textile city project in Karachi despite spending billions of rupees on it over the years. The project was supposed to create around 100,000 jobs and would have ensured textile exports worth billions of dollars, but everything has gone to oblivion to the much disappointment of the business community. According to official sources, the prime minister has been advised to officially rollback the project and return the 2,500 acres land, which was acquired for the purpose, back to the Port Qasim Authority. The government has lost 11 precious years in which the project was kept in limbo and now it is going to scrap it when its relevance has increased many fold due to the establishment of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor. The cause of closure of the project is Inconsistent with reasons, logic or common sense and that is the absence of electricity and gas in the proposed textile city.
The development of infrastructure is the basic requirement of a proposed project. Therefore, electricity and gas are the essential components of the project besides other facilities. However, the government is shunning the project that it cannot provide electricity to the textile city. A city which was conceived to be equipped with state-of-the-art facilities is being shut down merely for illogical reasons. The work on the China Pakistan Economic Corridor is underway and foreign investors are weighing options to invest in Pakistan. At this crucial juncture, the closure of this mega project will be unfortunate. The file of the project is before the prime minister and he should look into the circumstances and should not accept the closure of the project as the only option. If the government is unable to launch the project, hand it over to the Chinese investors and it will usher in a new era of investment in the country.
According to newspaper reports, the Ministry of Textile Industry has held the administration of the textile city responsible for delay in developing the infrastructure and attract the potential investors. In contrast, the administration holds the government responsible for not providing funds to lay down electricity and gas in the city. In this blame game between two government agencies, the nation is being deprived of a project which is vital for the country’s economy. The project inaugurated by former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is being closed by the current prime minister, Nawaz Sharif. During the period of seven years, the officials have drawn hefty salaries and perks on the taxpayers’ money without doing anything on the project. If this situation continues, the nation should forget that it will become Asian tiger in the foreseeable future.
