The federal and Sindh governments on Wednesday decided to set up a six-member committee to jointly look into the issues of Karachi city and to ensure early completion of the long standing development projects of the port city.
Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar during a media briefing said that both sides met for the third time on Wednesday where they reached at a consensus to work together in six priority areas including water, sewerage, transport, roads infrastructure, solid waste disposal and clearance of encroachments.
Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah and Asad Umar headed their respective delegations in the meeting. Asad Umar said in all the above mentioned areas, either the projects were already designed or new projects were needed to be initiated. He said it was decided in the meeting that all bottlenecks of the long-standing projects such as KCR, K4, and S3 would be removed through mutual consultation. He said there was no convener of the committee as both sides would work on the basis of mutual understandings.
Federal Secretary, Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, and Secretary Planning and Development Sindh would lead their respective groups in the meeting.
“We have targeted that within two weeks, the projects will be short listed and it would be decided which projects are to be led by the Sindh government and which projects are the responsibility of the federal government,” he said, adding that the financial and legislative matters of the projects would also be finalized within the given time. “But we will not wait for two weeks,” he said, adding the committee would start its work from Thursday and next meeting would be held in Karachi on Saturday.
The minister said Karachi is the most revenue generating city of the country and the federal government wanted the city to reach its maximum potential. For this, the city’s residents must have to be provided with maximum facilities, he said, adding that Prime Minister Imran Khan has his personal connection with the people of Karachi who elected him in the general elections. Furthermore, he said, since 19 out of 21 seats of Karachi city belong to PTI and MQM, which is coalition partner of the PTI, therefore it is also political responsibility of the federal government to work for the development of Karachi.
Asad Umar also made it clear that PTI and Pakistan People’s Party have intense political differences but for the sake of Karachi residents they joined hands to work for the city. “This is a developmental procedure and there should be no differences on development works,” he said.
Meanwhile, Minister for Information Technology Syed Amin-ul-Haque said the six-member joint committee will play a role of bridge between the Federation and the province for resolving chronic issues of Karachi. He said the infrastructure of Karachi is on the verge of complete destruction. The elected representatives of the city wanted to resolve the issues by playing their role in providing basic amenities of life to the city dwellers, he added.
