Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah presiding over a joint meeting of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and K-Electric decided to evolve a mechanism to collect two of the KMC taxes through electricity bills so that recovery could be ensured.
The meeting was attended by Minister Energy Imtiaz Shaikh, Administrator KMC MurtazaWahab, PSCM Sajid Jamal Abro, Secretary Energy Abu Bakar, CEO KE MonisAlvi, Director KE Haris Jamil and other concerned.
Administrator KMC MurtazaWahab briefing the chief minister said that the KMC has 13 taxes to collect from the people of the city living in KMC limits.
“Out of 13 taxes, the KE may collect only two taxes Fire Tax and Conservancy tax through its bills,” he said and disclosed that the KMC hardly collected Rs220 million annually from both the taxes.
The KMC administrator proposed that the KE may collect Rs100 to Rs200 as Fire Tax and Conservancy Taxe from 2.5 million consumers through its electricity bills every month. He added that this would help the KMC to generate around Rs9 billion annually.
The chief minister said that he was working to strengthen the local bodies of Karachi financially stable so that they could serve the citizens from their own resources.
“The KMC used to be a well-off organization but from last one decade it has crippled financially,” he said. The KE chief, MoonisAlvi said that they have no objection to collect the taxes on behalf of the KMC but he would have to seek permission from the federal government.
At this the chief minister said that he would get him [KE] necessary permission from the federal government. “This is a government work and aimed at improving the performance of the KMC and I am sure they [fed govt] would support us,” he said.
The chief minister directed Minister Energy Imtiaz Shaikh to get the paperwork done for the federal government permission.
