Four sites are being considered for the relocation of 7,850 illegal industrial units set up in residential areas across Lahore.
District Officer (Industries) Azhar Hussain told The Express Tribune that the department would suggest to the Lahore Development Authority to declare one or more of these sites as ‘industrial zones’ in its master plan. The plan, he said, was being revised and the re-zoning shouldn’t be a problem.
A 2,000-acre site on Kala Khatai Road, an 8,000-acre area between Sunder and Manga on Multan Road, a 50-acre area acquired by the Sunder Industrial Estate and the National Industrial Park, set up on Sheikhupura Road last year, are the areas being considered by the departments currently re-evaluating the units initially categorised as hazardous.
Seven departments and agencies are carrying out the survey.
They are: the departments of labour, industries and environment protection; Civil Defence, the Lahore Development Authority, Rescue 1122, and the town municipal administrations.
A joint survey was initiated after a boiler exploded at a factory on Multan Road in February 2012, killing at least 26 workers had died as a result, had listed the 7,850 units.
Last week, a re-evaluation of the units listed by the survey, conducted between April and November 2012, was started after many factory owners complained of being wrongly classified as dangerous.
About 2,100 of the 7,850 illegal units will need to be relocated immediately, Hussain told The Express Tribune. These units either dispose of hazardous materials into the environment or are large-scale industries that employ more than 10 workers.
A meeting, with Law Minister Rana Sanaullah as the chair, is expected to be called next week. It is supposed to discuss proposals regarding the relocation of the units.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 1st, 2013.