Staff Reporter
Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Asad Umar has said that the Federal government will spend Rs35 billion on various development projects in Karachi this year.Talking to journalists on Friday, Asad Umar said that Prime Minister Imran Khan is committed to uplift living standards of the people in the port city. He said that Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) is a key government ally in Sindh and the federal government working on uplift projects in consultation with its allied parties. The minister said that the provincial government did nothing for the city. He vowed to allocate more funds for the port city in the next budget. Asad Umar said Karachi does not “belong” to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement but to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, as the latter gained more votes from the metropolis in the general elections of 2018 than any other party. He said: “We [the PTI] are working for the people of Karachi,” with MQM as a partner. After an earlier meeting with MQM-Pakistan leaders, Asad Umar had claimed that progress had been made in talks with the key ally.“Both PTI and MQM-P are striving for development projects for Karachi and it is a stark reality that what the mega-city deserves is not being given to it,” he told the media.Umar, who has previously led the finance ministry, also said that he had met with International Monetary Fund (IMF) officials during his visit to Karachi.
