Punjab Governor Sardar Saleem Haider Khan has declared Faisalabad as the first circular city of Pakistan, saying the decision is aimed at putting the country on a growth trajectory.
Addressing a meeting at the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI), he paid tribute to the business community for striving to stabilise the economy despite daunting challenges.
He highlighted the gap between industry and academia, saying he would direct vice chancellors to visit their respective chambers to understand the issues faced by the business community.
He said the universities would be advised to constitute committees and appoint focal persons to interact with the business community, while a focal person from the Governor’s Secretariat would also be nominated to resolve issues without bureaucratic hurdles.
On Pakistan’s economic conditions, the governor acknowledged the high cost of electricity, energy, and interest rates, as well as heavy taxation. He said taxes are being deducted from employees’ salaries while businessmen already in the tax net are being squeezed instead of the tax net being widened.
He said he would try his best to arrange a meeting of FCCI with President Asif Ali Zardari and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, and that Bilawal would be requested to visit FCCI for direct interaction with the business community.
On the murder of a local businessman, the governor said he would take up the issue at the highest level and direct the authorities to arrest the culprits within hours.
Earlier, FCCI President Arif Ehsan Malik welcomed the governor and demanded that Faisalabad be declared the first textile circular city of Pakistan. He said textile waste is already being recycled to produce new products, and called for a joint pilot project in a selected industrial cluster to treat industrial effluent for reuse.
He also stressed the need for a campus of an IT university in the city to promote information technology in a systematic manner.
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