Mayor Karachi Barrister Murtaza Wahab has said that until the issue of recovery of municipal utility charges is resolved, the recovery should be increased from major consumers of the city, marriage halls, offices, banks and restaurants, and steps should be taken in this regard within a week. He gave these instructions while presiding over a meeting with the officers of the Department of Municipal Utility Charges and the Finance Department of KMC in his office on Monday.
He said that cleaning and lighting of pedestrian bridges at Sharea Faisal for ongoing beautification work should be carried out, finance department must make the financial matters transparent and better, and coordination of the finance department with all other departments of MC should be improved.Deputy Mayor Salman Abdullah Murad, secretary general Pakistan People’s party district south Karamullah Waqasi, Municipal Commissioner Nauman Arshad, Senior Director MUCT Tasneem Siddiqui and other officers were also present on this occasion.
Mayor Karachi Barrister Murtaza Wahab said that at present there is a recovery of 15 to 16 crore rupees in the whole year through municipal utility bills, in which steps are being taken to increase, but for the time being, such a system should be devised to focus all the big consumers in the city and charges should be collected from them.
He said that he was giving one weeks time after which a meeting will be held again to review the progress in this regard. He said that there are a total of 105 pedestrian bridges in Karachi, of which 50 bridges are under occupation, so work should be started on them immediately, banners, flags and wires etc. on all bridges should be removed immediately and lighting arrangements should be made.
Give three days time to the concerned to bring the pedestrian bridges in proper condition and arrange cleaning and lighting of the bridges while making a formula for revising the rent of the other 55 bridges, he said.
He said that on Shariah Faisal, where the beautification work is going on, KMC will play its role to improve the bridges on all the intersections. After that, he said, he will visit Sharea Faisal and inspect all the things so that the situation can be improved.
While instructing the officers of the Finance Department, Mayor Karachi Barrister Murtaza Wahab said that measures should be taken to improve the financial situation of KMC, financial matters should be made transparent and better, and coordination of the Finance Department with all other departments of MC should be improved.
