Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Sunday warned against people distorting facts surrounding the Rs 1,100 billion transformation plan for Karachi announced a day earlier and insisted that there is ‘no politics involved’ in the government’s decision to invest in the provincial metropolis.
Addressing a briefing at Governor House in Karachi alongside Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi and Minister for IT and Telecommunication Syed Amin ul Haque, he said that the federal government will bear 62% of the total amount of Rs 1,100 billion announced by Prime Minister Imran Khan for Karachi Transformation Plan while the remaining 38% will be spent by the provincial government. He said that these projects are those that were devised a long time ago but could not be taken forward because of a lack of funds or more so, because decision making authority was distributed across the local, Sindh and federal governments. “So decision making is withheld, there are impediments to work and Karachi remains deprived of its rights,” he said, presenting an account of what things had been like prior to the plan’s announcement.
He said that one factor that is central to Karachi’s progress is that everyone must keep politics aside and work together on one platform with serving the people in mind. He said that Murad Ali Shah in a meeting had agreed upon not to reveal the share of both the governments. However, he said, unfortunately, a video clip of PPP chairman is making rounds over social media in which he was claiming the major share of the Sindh government in the package. He said the stakeholders also should keep all the political differences aside and work jointly for the success of the historic transformation plan of the city. The progress of Pakistan is linked with progress and development of Karachi, which is an economic hub of the country, he said.
The federal minister highlighted that major hurdle in the development of the city is non availability of total authority. He expressed the hope that Sindh chief minister would be allowed by his party leadership to work jointly with the federal government for the betterment of Karachi.
To a question, the Federal Minister replied that under the transformation plan, in first phase, rain drains would be completely cleaned, whereas the provincial government had taken responsibility to rehabilitate the displaced people from the illegal encroachments. About the completion of public transport projects, he said that the Green Line Bus Rapid Transport System would complete in 2021 and the Karachi Circular Railway would complete in 2023.
Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi said that the historic transformation plan announced by the Prime Minister for Karachi is a good news for Karachiites and both the federal and provincial governments have agreed to prosecute the plan jointly.
Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication Syed Amin ul Haque hailed the government for the announcement of plan. He said this plan is not a favor to Karachi, it is the right of this city. The more government will spend on Karachi, the more it will earn as revenue from the city, he maintained.
