World Bank delegation comprising of Senior Urban Economist Ms. Yoonhee Kim, Global Lead City Management and Finance Roland White, Senior Public Sector Specialist Raju Awasthi and others called on Mayor Karachi Wasim Akhtar in his office on Tuesday to discuss with him the World Bank’s cooperation in the city’s development projects and to get the information about the functions of KMC and DMCs in Karachi and the sources of revenue and financial management system.

Vice Chairman of DMC Central Shakir Ali, Vice Chairman of DMC Eat Abdul Rauf, Vice chairman of DMC Korangi Syed Ahmer Ali, Chairman Finance Committee KMC Nadeem Hidayat, Chairman Land Committee Syed Arshad Hussain, Financial Advisor Dr. Asghar Abbas, Director Technical S. M Shukaib and other officers attended this meeting.

Mayor Karachi while giving details of the functions of municipal bodies in Karachi in accordance with SLGO 2013 said the cleaning and de-silting of storm water drains and removal of encroachments on these drains and disposal of garbage was a big issue in Karachi.

He said the district administrations doing cleanliness works on their own but the Solid Waste Management Department was controlled by the Sindh Government.

He said KMC has a main source of income in MUCT and it is being made operational to earn the revenue for providing better municipal services to citizens of Karachi.

Murad urges Traders of Tariq Road, Saddar to keep their Areas Clean

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that he has constructed important roads of the city and now it becomes the responsibility of the shopkeepers and other traders to keep their areas clean and save them from encroachments.

This he said while talking to the delegation of Tariq Road Traders Welfare Association led by its President Aslam Bhatti, General Secretary Asad Towfique, Fawad Khan, Haroon Zafar, Mohammad Azam, Zafar Iqbal and Mohammad Mehmood.

The chief minister said that he has reconstructed important roads such as Tariq Road, Saddar, University Road and others which are hub of business activities. “I am sorry to say, I have personally witnessed that the traders throw away waste and filth of their shops onto the roads, though dustbin are lying there,” he said and urged the association to stop them from making their newly constructed areas filthy.  

The association members lauding the chief minister for constructing their roads said the construction work was in progress everywhere in the city. The assured the chief minister of their full support and cooperation in keeping their areas neat and clean.

The chief minister also noted that most of the shopping plazas have their parking lots in their buildings but they have converted them into go downs. “This is unacceptable,” he said and urged the association to talk to their association members and others for opening their parking areas, otherwise he would have no option but to take action,” he said. “I am going to issue directives to the new DIG traffic to open their parking areas and report me,” he said.

Syed Murad Ali Shah also directed DIG Traffic to revisit the areas where car showrooms are located and ensure no car is displayed on the road. “We would support them into doing their business activities with peace of mind but would never allow anybody to encroach upon roads and cause problems in smooth flow of traffic,” he said.

He said that the work on road right from Fountain Chowk, near Governor House to Zoo, Garden and back from garden to Saddar would be started shortly. “This would cause problems in flow of traffic and create others problems, therefore I need your (traders community and general public) support and cooperation,” he said.