KARACHI – Although Sindh’s industries are facing long power outages and other serious problems, the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) has once again issued property taxes to industries located in the Sindh Industrial and Trading Estate (SITE), it has been learnt from reliable sources.
The issuance of property tax notices to the industries by the city district government is not a new practice with the authorities having honed it in the last couple of years and garnering significant amounts in property tax.
The CDGK had imposed utility charges in the metropolis one and a half year ago. However, locals were indifferent to the levy and refused to honour it. Now, the city district government is trying to compensate for the gap in tax collection at the expense of industry, well-placed sources in SITE told Pakistan Today.
Apparently, industrialists are being continuously harassed by one institution after the other, which keeps the owners running from pillar to post in a bid to get relief, they said. It was noted that Site Town administration had been involved in issuing notices for the recovery of trade license fee followed by bills for municipal services.
The SITE is an administrative body akin to cantonment boards. It is responsible to its tenants, who have been allotted land on a lease of 99 years and is also providing municipal services to industries located in this locality.
Sources pointedly indicated that SITE has been providing utility services to industries located in the area for more than a decade and that the city government has no right to issue utility bills for municipal services.
Interestingly, the defunct Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) had never claimed such taxes and charges in the last 62 years but it has been observed that in the past three to four years that CDGK officials, especially in district West, have become particularly active and are harassing industrialists in the SITE area by issuing different kinds of notices under the Land Revenue Act.
It is also pertinient to mention that the city district government could collect municipal charges in other industrial estates like Korangi, F B Area, North Karachi and Landhi as the CDGK plays a municipal service role in these areas. It was stressed that SITE generates an estimated income of Rs 1.0 billion per annum.
SITE Managing Director (MD) Abdul Rasheed Solangi told Pakistan Today that industrialists have increasingly complained to him about the issuance of property tax notices on the part of administration of SITE and Gadap towns, recently.
“The property tax notices issued by the CDGK is unjustified as the provision of industrial land, development and utilities are the basic responsibilities of the SITE management”, he added.
“We (SITE MD and Secretary Industries) will take up the matter with the Secretary Local Government Department and the District Coordination Officer (DCO) Karachi very shortly, to resolve this pressing issue”, the MD went on to say.
