Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah presided over a meeting to follow up on the progress of removal of encroachments from the city, Malir Expressway, TP-4, Hub Canal and the removal of encroachments from the footpaths, green belts and roads from the city.
Those who attended the meeting include provincial ministers, SaeedGhani, ZialLanjar, Mayor Karachi MurtazaWahab, Chief Secretary AsifHyder Shah, PSCM Agha Wasif, Commissioner Karachi Hassan Naqvi, SMBR BaqaullahUnar, MD SSWMB Imtiaz Shah, Secretary Finance FayazJatoi, Secretary Transport AsadZamin, Secretary Planning Khair Mohammad Kalwar, DG SBCA RasheedSolangi, Special Secretary Local Govt Aisha Hameed, MC AfzalZaidi, Karachi CEO Water Board Salahuddin, ZubairChanna and PD Malir Expressway NiazSoomro.
Removal of encroachment: at the outset of the meeting, the CM said that the footpaths are meant for the people to move hassle-free on the city roads, but they have been encroached upon under the nose of the administration. “Now, the green belts of the roads have also been encroached upon by the Dhabas and other such make-shift type of settlements.
Commissioner Karachi Hassan Naqvi said that the assistant commissioners have started documenting encroachments on the footpaths, roads green belts and even debris put on the roads for under-construction buildings. He added that the administration would submit a detailed plan to the government for removal of the encroachments.
At this, the CM said that it was the job of local bodies, local administration and the police not to allow encroachment on the public spaces but “sorry to say I compelled to take up such issues,” he said.MayorMurtazaWahab told the CM that he was working on the plan for the removal of encroachment from the KMC roads in a planned manner. “Due to Muharram activities, the tasks could not be taken up,” he said and added now it would be completed by removing all kinds of encroachments. This is the city where parking areas of shopping/commercial plazas have been turned into godowns to mint money and the vehicles and bikes were being parked on the roads. “Why the SBCA is silent,’ he questioned. DG of the SBCA RasheedSolangi told the CM that the officers of his authority have started the survey of the commercial plaza where approved parking areas have been converted into godowns. Just after the survey, the plazas would be given notice to restore their parking areas, in case of failure the buildings would be sealed.
The CM said that he had given two weeks to the administration and local bodies to work out a plan for the removal of encroachment and now one week has passed away and the administration has one week left to submit their plan. Malir Expressway: The Chief Minister said that the first segment of the 15-km Malir Expressway from Jam Sadiq Bridge to Shah Faisal would prove to be an alternate road to the airport which was most important for the people of the city. The PD Malir expressway told the CM that due to some litigation issues the work has been delayed. He requested the CM to give him a month so that he could complete the remaining work of the first segment.
The Chief Minister Sindh directed the PD Malir Expressway to complete all the remaining works by the middle of September so that he could open it for the public in the last week of September. The CM directed Commissioner Karachi to conduct a detailed survey of the land reclaimed from the Malir Expressway from end-to-end so that it could be documented.
He also directed deputy commissioners, local bodies and the police to protect government land and property with heart and soul. “I’ll not let anybody grab even an inch of the government land,” he said categorically. TP-4: The CM was told that the water board had mandated the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to be the Transaction Advisor for 120 MIGD Treatment Plant (TP4) along with a recycling plant and pipeline system to be procured under PPP mode.
