By Minahil Makhdoom
ISLAMABAD: President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, along with Chairman Capital Development Authority (CDA), Amer Ali Ahmed, visited the two major business centres of Islamabad including Blue Area and F-10 Markaz to assess the needs of markets development and take remedial measures to address the issues traders.
Former President ICCI Muhammad Ejaz Abbasi, President Traders Association Blue Area Yousaf Rajput, President Traders Association F-10 Markaz Ahmed Khan, Executive Members ICCI Raja Hassan Akhtar and Ali Akram Khan, former Senior Vice President ICCI Tahir Abbasi, Malik Sagheer Ahmed, members of business community and CDA officers of various departments were also present at the occasion.
Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan and Amer Ali Ahmed inspected various areas of these two markets to see the situation of infrastructure and interacted with the traders to know about the requirements of development works. They identified many issues including need for carpeting of roads, repair of footpaths, putting lids on manholes of gutters, restoration of streetlights, trimmings of trees, removal of encroachments and repair of broken fences etc. to improve the beautification of markets and uplift their image.
Speaking at the occasion, President ICCI Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan appreciated the approach of Chairman CDA Amer Ali Ahmed for conducting visits to various markets along with ICCI leadership, which showed that he was quite serious in addressing the development needs of markets. He apprised him that the lack of parking facility was a major issue of the traders of markets including Blue Area and F-10 Markaz and said that CDA should arrange early auction of plots for parking so that parking could be built and run on BOT basis, which will generate revenue for CDA and help in resolving parking issues for business community.
Sardar Yasir Ilyas also informed the traders of these markets that ICCI was in close liaison with CDA to work jointly for the better development of markets and commercial areas in Islamabad and assured them that CDA would accelerate efforts to resolve major issues of the trading community in order to facilitate them in promoting business activities.
He said that ICCI in collaboration with Presidents of Trade Associations of respective markets
would form a Mediation Committee that would work with traders and CDA for removal of encroachments from markets.
Addressing the traders of Blue Area and F-10 Markaz, Chairman CDA Amer Ali Ahmed said that the civic body has decided to upgrade the basic infrastructure in markets. He said that CDA has already started the process of carpeting roads, repair of footpaths, restoration of streetlights, improving sewerage & sanitation systems. He said CDA was in the process of identifying plots in markets for construction of multi storey parking. He said that many development works were in progress and traders would see more improvement in coming days. He assured that he would continue to work with ICCI for addressing development issues of all major markets so that business activities could flourish in the federal capital.
President ICCI and Chairman CDA have set a new trend by conducting visits of markets by taking the trade associations on board. This was the third joint visit of President ICCI and Chairman CDA to see the on-ground situation of
markets for early resolution of traders issues. They have already visited Super Market, Jinnah Super, Rana Market, Farooqia Market, Melody Market and Aabpara Market. They would conduct more joint visits to various markets of
Islamabad to see their issues and start required development works in order to promote the ease of doing business in the Islamabad region.
