ISLAMABAD – Local businessmen in a meeting of ICCI Sub-Committee on CDA appealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to allow the start of pending construction work on Islamabad Citizen Club in F-9 Park as it was a project of public interest.
Presiding over the meeting, Acting President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), Asad Farid said that the CDA should explore the option of public-private partnership for early completion of this important project so that citizens of the city could avail a better community facility.
He said that many entrepreneurs have shown interest to become joint partner for completion of the club and called upon the CDA to form a committee comprising representatives of CDA and private sector to make a joint venture arrangement for its construction. He said the ICCI could help the CDA in finding private partners for the project.
The committee members said that they had taken up many issues of business community with CDA like allotment of plots for construction of a dispensary for industrial labour and multi-storey flats for small traders, bifurcation of single owner adjacent industrial plots to set up separate industrial units and removal of encroachments from markets. However, all these issues were still unresolved, which showed the lacklustre approach of the CDA to address the issues of the business community.
They were of the view that traders and industrialists were playing a major role in promoting commercial activities and strengthening the local economy. Therefore, the CDA should give priority attention to their issues so that entrepreneurs could expand businesses and create more job opportunities for unemployed youth.
Asad Farid also stressed for early shifting of courts from F-8 Markaz to some other place because existence of courts in this important area has diminished the commercial value of the area and was badly hurting the business interests of entrepreneurs. He said that industrialists have to pay five to six percent cost on registration of industrial plots while CDA was also charging another four to five percent as transfer fee.
He urged that instead of getting double charges from industrialists on this account, the CDA should provide them relief to help boosting industrial activities in Islamabad.