Lahore - The Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) on Wednesday strongly opposed conversion of Kahna Kacha’s industrial area into a residential society, and argued that it would deprive millions of people of their jobs.

LCCI President Sheikh Muhammad Arshad expressed these views while talking to a delegation of Kahna Kacha Industrial Estate here at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

Terming it a bad policy decision, the LCCI president said the decision to establish a residential colony at Kahna Kacha’s industrial area would hit economy of the province hard besides applying reverse gear to the government efforts aimed at progress and prosperity.

The LCCI President said that it would also bring down the graph of government’s popularity. He urged the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) to shelve the plan of sacrificing the Kahna Kacha Industrial Estate for the sake of residential scheme as this initiative would result in dire consequences.

“Not only the industry but the government would also be the looser as the closure of hundreds of industrial units would cause huge loss to the national exchequer in terms of taxes and utility bills. The Punjab government should be well aware of the fact that residential colonies cannot be important than industrial clusters.” He said that priority to residential colonies over industrial areas was a matter of concern for the business community.

“It is the worst misuse of Land Acquisition Act 1894 which is now eating up Kahna Kacha Industrial Estate, where over hundred industrial units are not only providing employment to thousands of workers but also bringing in precious foreign exchange.  Sheikh further said that industrial estates and free zones always attracted local and foreign investment and contributed to the economic development of any country.

“These make a vital contribution to the national exports besides generating huge employment opportunities,” he said, and added, “Pakistan has already lost a number of international markets while the condition of both local and foreign investment is also precarious. In the present scenario when the country is struggling to enhance exports, collapse of Kahna Kacha Industrial Estate would further aggravate the situation.”

The LCCI president said that Lahore Development Authority (LDA) had never bothered to take business community on board and started serving notices to the industrialists of Kahna Kacha Industrial Estate.

He said that this act of Lahore Development Authority would waste the investment of billions of rupees and turn the industrial units of Kahna Kacha Industrial Estate into heap which would not raise the graph of unemployment but would also discourage the local investors.

He said that foreign investors would also lose their interest and shelve their plans to start businesses in Punjab.