KARACHI: Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon has announced that the government will connect Orange and Green Line bus services with the industrial area of SITE to facilitate workers.

He said this during a visit to SITE Association of Industry, where he held a meeting with senior members and industrialists.

According to a press release issued here on Tuesday, the minister assured the SITE members that he would arrange their meeting with the Sindh chief minister soon on the issues of industries.

He said that the provincial government considered business community their asset and added that the public-private-partnership model of Sindh had been appreciated at the federal level.

Heavy traffic to be allowed on Lyari Expressway from 10pm to 7am, Sharjeel Memon announces

He announced opening of the second phase of the Malir Expressway (Shahrah-i-Bhutto) till Quaidabad in the next two weeks and briefed members on the progress of bus rapid transit projects.

He informed the members that vehicles registered in Lasbela had to be registered in Karachi while fitness certification was being outsourced. The government had established four centres for heavy vehicles and so far impounded 1,500 vehicles on the grounds of fitness, he said.

The minister said that Northern Bypass was the only solution to heavy traffic in Karachi.

“We are also allowing heavy traffic on Lyari Expressway from 10pm to 7am. Other steps shall also be taken to divert heavy traffic to ensure it passes from city quickly,” he said.

He termed the loadshedding by K-Electric as a “collective punishment” to the people of Karachi and mentioned that it was against the Constitution.

He invited business community to invest in the Dhabeji Industrial Zone.

Earlier, SITE President Ahmed Azeem Alvi welcomed the minister and requested him to connect the SITE area with railways network.

Patron-in-Chief Zubair Motiwala congratulated the provincial government on introducing EV buses.

He said that Karachi is the engine of national economy. The city contributes to 90 per cent of the Sindh revenue alone while rest of the province pays only 10pc to the Sindh Revenue Board (SRB), he said.

He emphasised the need to complete University Road on priority to ease the sufferings of the people.

Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry President Jawed Bilwani, who is a former president SITE Association, said that only Karachi registered vehicles should be allowed to ply on city roads. He stressed the need to revive Karachi Circular Railways (KCR) and remarked that travel by train was quite safe in the past.

Tariq Yousuf, Younus Bashir, Majyd Aziz, Abdul Hadi and Anwer Aziz also expressed their views in the meeting.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2025