Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the PPP government is working with heart and soul in the city to redress the problems of garbage lifting and improvement of sewerage system despite the fact that the party has no local bodies mandate in the city.
“The people of this city have given mandate to MQM but MQM and their partners [PTI] instead of redressing public problems are fighting like wrestlers in the ring. This kind of politics where filthy language is used for lifting of filth is unprecedented.” He was talking to a delegation of Karachi Industrial Forum (KIF) comprising Zain Bashir President of LATI, Khursheed Ahmed President FBATI, Saleem Parekh President SITE, Mohammad Ilyas President BQATI and others. Minister Labour Saeed Ghani, Minister Local Government Nasir Shah, Minister Industries Ikram Dharejo, Advisor to CM Murtaza Wahab, PSCM Sajid Jamal Abro, Commissioner Karachi Iftikhar Shahalwani and other concerned officers.
Shah said that he has given special focus to the development of the city. “We have constructed flyovers, underpasses and reconstructed the roads with drainage system even then MQM friends were levelling baseless allegation that we have not given ownership to this city,” he lamented and said he was born here and has given much more ownership to Karachi than anybody else here.
Murad Shah said that he was striving hard to construct K-IV project but due to technical reasons and the project was going to be late. “We are working on its technical aspects and would resolve them to complete the project,” he assured.
The KIF delegation complained that the water charges have been increased by 29 percent which was unfair with the industrialists. At this Labour minister Saeed Ghani said that from 2017 water charges had not been increased. He added that as per law the water board was empowered to increase water charges every year by 9 percent.
The chief minister directed Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Shah to hold a meeting with the KIF delegation and resolve their issues on top priority basis. “The PPP government in Sindh is working for establishment of new industrial states and improvement of the infrastructure of the existing ones, therefore we have to provide them maximum facilities and avoid to exert more financial pressures on their business,” he said and directed Nasir Shah to accommodate KIF people.
The meeting decided that desalination plants would be established in the city so that the water could be provided to the industrialists. At this the Local Government Ministers, Syed Nasir Shah said that he held a number of meetings with desalination experts and firm in Dubai last week. He added that his visit was purely based on brining de-salination firm to Karachi so that water issues of the city, domestic and industrial, could be resolved.
The KIF delegation also raised the issue of charges on sub-soil water and requested the chief minister to withdrawn the decision. At this the chief minister said that the Local Government Minister would resolve all their issues in their meeting with him.
The chief minister said that he has activated Sindh Solid Waste Management Authority and have also involved district administration in garbage lifting work. The chief minister said that he was going to involve district administration to start fumigation in the city.
KWSB: The chief minister said that KWSB was overstaffed organisation, therefore the funds they were generating were utilising on payment of salaries and pensions. The provincial government in collaboration with the World Bank was going to restructure the board so that it could be made a viable, efficient and effective organisation.
The industrialists said that the water board has 156 pumping stations in the city and they should install meters there so that they could make proper billing. They said that at present the recoveries of the KWSB were not so good. The chief minister said that the water board would become one of the best organisations when the World Bank restructuring project was started.
Mr Shah said that the performance of the water board during heavy rains remained commendable. They did good job and he has directed the MD water to improve sewerage system of the city. The KIF thanked the chief minister for his support in resolving their issues.
