ICCI calls for gradual opening of industries in Islamabad

  • May 03, 2020
The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has called upon the government go gradually open businesses and industries in Islamabad as due to continuous lockdown, labor has lost daily earnings while financial problems of business community were also multiplying. Muhammad Ahmed Waheed, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that Covid-19 have tumbled the economies across the world while Europe and USA have suffered huge casualties. However, these countries were now considering to gradually reduce restrictions and open their economies. He said that construction and other industries were opened in Sindh, KPK and Punjab, but were still closed in Islamabad, which was not justified. He said that due to this situation labor in Islamabad was without work while government has not deferred the commercial utility bills of companies as yet. He said that if this situation continued, many corporate companies would be at risk of default that would have long-term negative impact on the economy. ICCI President said that under the guidelines of health authorities, measures should be taken to open the factories and businesses in Islamabad. He said especially those factories should be immediately opened whose labor was residing in factory premises as it was not affordable for industries to keep bearing the burden of labor, employees and utility bills without production activities. He said that during a meeting with Asad Umar Federal Minister for Planning & Development and Hammad Azhar Federal Minister for Industries few days ago, they were apprised of the issues of business community, but still their concerns were not addressed. He strongly demanded that like other provinces, businesses and industries in Islamabad should also be opened to provide jobs to labor and re-run the wheel of the local economy.