Caretaker Sindh Chief Minister Justice (Retd) Maqbool Baqar brought all the civic agencies, provincial as well as federal, to the table and directed them to resolve their jurisdiction issues and, mend their ways so that the plight of the city in terms of provision of water, cleanliness, fixing of overflowing gutters, repairing of dilapidated roads, streets, footpaths and streetlights could be improved. “Karachi is one of the largest cities of the world, but our civic agencies have left no stone unturned to deface it,” he said and added that the agencies responsible for providing civic services in the city keep fighting on the jurisdiction issue and the condition of the city keep deteriorating day by day which is intolerable,” he said.
The meeting was attended by Mayor Karachi MurtazaWahab, Secretary Finance Kazim Jatoi, Secretary Local govt Manzoor Shaikh, Secretary Works Nawaz Sohoo, Commissioner Karachi Saleem Rajput, Secretary Transport AsadZamin, DGs of KDA, LDA, MDA, COO water board, deputy commissioners, representatives of cantonments boards, KE, MD solid waste management, Cable operators, and others.
The CM said that no civic agency was working in the interest of the city and its people and under the garb of jurisdiction they keep passing on the buck when asked about their performance. “The roads are dilapidated, walkways are under encroachment, water is theft, transport is not properly regulated, people have no water to drink, gutters are overflowing, solid waste is not working, streets lights are out of order, encroachment is a big issue,” he said and added that the concerned agencies, district administration have to resolve these issues.
The CM directed the mayor and the concerned Town to improve the condition of Scheme 33 at least lifting of garbage and regular sweeping must be ensured. He directed the mayor to get a scheme worked out for providing all the facilities, including water and sewerage for Scheme -33. It was pointed out that the work on the construction of the Red Line has created a mess in the entire area from Malir Cantt to Hassan Square. The entire road is dug up and traffic jams have become a serious problem.
To this question, the CM was told that the revised PC-I of the Red Line project has been sent to the federal government for approval from the ECNEC. The CM was told that the Towns have the authority to collect property tax, license fees, and other sources. At this, the CM directed the Towns to improve their financial position and deliver.
The water board COO told the CM that the Lyari pumping station faced severe load shedding, therefore disposal of wastewater remained a challenge. He disclosed that when the KWSB requested the KE to declare the Lyari pumping stations free of load shedding in return the KE sent them a bill of Rs90 million bill to provide them uninterrupted power line. At this, the CM directed KE to resolve the issue and report him.
Kiamari: At the outset two of the DC West and DC Kiamari told the CM that their districts were facing an acute shortage of water. To a question, the COO of the Water Board Asadullah Khan told the CM that the Manghopir Road was being constructed by the federal government but due to funding issues, the work has been left incomplete. He added that due to the stoppage of the work water lines have not been laid.
At this, Mayor Karachi said that the project would cost Rs2 billion and if the amount was given to KMC he would not only lay the water lines but construct the 2 km incomplete road.
