KARACHI: Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar on Thursday inaugurated the newly-built Zulfiqarabad Oil Tankers Parking Terminal.
Under the directives of Supreme Court of Pakistan, oil tankers will now be shifted from the city to the new terminal within 30 days.
The terminal has been built on 200 acres of land in East Karachi. It has parking facilities for 3,200 tankers.
The oil tankers will only leave the terminal for getting fuel from the Pakistan State Oil (PSO) facility.
The terminal has also built washrooms, rest rooms, praying area besides workshops and eating rooms, canteens, waste water facility and other facilities to the drivers and staff of the oil tankers.
A police kiosk, fire station, dispensary, rescue unit, underground tanks with overall capacity of 150,000 gallons, overhead tanks with 60,000-gallon capacity, a power sub station with availability of poll mounting transformers, two guardroom towers and other relevant facilities have also been provided.
The exit and entrance roads around the terminal have been completed. However, one of the four boundary walls is still under construction.
Tree saplings have also been planted inside and outside the terminal by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation.
PSO has said that it will construct an oil filling facility at the terminal so that the tankers do not have to travel to the Kemari Oil Terminal to get fuel.
Waseem Akhtar thanked the SC, the federal government, the Sindh CM, oil companies and oil tanker association for their help in completing the project.
The project will end the long standing problem of traffic jams in the city.
Deputy Mayor Dr Arshad Wohra, Additional Home Secretary Dr Badruddin, Municipal Commissioner Dr Asghar Abbas, Parliamentary Leader of City Council Aslam Shah Afridi, work committee chairman Muhammad Hassan, PSO Managing Director Imran Haq Sheikh, All Pakistan Oil Tankers Association General Secretary Hanif Kakar, Edible Oil Association General Secretary Bakhtawar, Mukhtar Hussain, Ghulam Hussein Chaudhry and others attended the ceremony.
