Extensive repair of rain-battered infrastructure in Karachi has become imperative as the megacity is a pathetic shape after heavy monsoon spells, said Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Altaf Shakoor.
He said already vulnerable civic infrastructure in the megacity Karachi has gone further battered with ongoing monsoon rains. It has become the source of great pain and agony for the Karachiites.
He said it is pitty that the government is least concerned to address the issues facing the dwellers of the megacity. He said that the ongoing rains have not only exposed the vulnerable civic infrastructure of the megacity, but also the zenith of bad governance in Sindh government as well as the KMC and DMCs. He said many streets in low laying neighborhoods have been converted into pools of gutter-mixed contaminated rainwater that is not only providing good breeding grounds to mosquitos and houseflies but also spreading communicable diseases in Karachi.
He said commuters are suffering a lot due to pot-holed roads further damaged in ongoing rains. He said the federal and Sindh governments are shying away from investing in civic infrastructure of the megacity. He said Karachi is providing the lion’s share of revenue to whole Pakistan but it is left orphaned and abandoned by the rulers. He said like the previous regime, the present Central coalition government is least interested in Karachi. He said the Green Line RBT project of the federal government is still incomplete and nobody knows when work on its second phase from Numaish to Tower would begin.
Altaf Shakoor suggested immediate municipal emergency in Karachi to lift heaps of garbage, to open choked drainage lines and to dewater accumulated rainwater from different localities of Karachi, especially its old city market areas as well as slums.
He said the megacity would likely to face an outbreak of dengue and malaria very soon due to ample breeding of mosquitos and government should take all precautionary steps right now to save the citizens from these diseases.
He urged the federal government to approve a major economic package for Karachi to repair and rehabilitate the civic infrastructure in Karachi that is in very condition after the rains.
