On Friday 12th November Administrator Karachi was invited to the IBA City Campus as part of IBA’s Distinguish Speaker Series. Where he discussed the issues of Karachi, their solutions, and how KMC and the Sindh Government are working to make the city better.
The dialogue started with Mr. Administrator giving himself good 15 minutes to explain his journey from being a lawyer to Administrator Karachi. During which he talked about the Sindh Government’s development project of Sandspit Road. He was immediately humbled by Mr. Akbar Zaidi who asked, “Whether they’ll be able to take a bath at home after they enjoy Sandspit beach because there is no water?”. In the case of people, all the way to the Main campus wondering where those huge rounds of applause were coming from, now you know.
Problems Nobody Talks About
The Honorable Administrator Karachi Mr. Murtaza Wahab explained why Karachi is suffering for decades now. He gave a list for a better understanding of the audience.
- Firstly, Karachi doesn’t know its numbers, official number: 16.1 million, Estimated: 25 million+
- Secondly, Karachi requires 1200 million gallons of water a day, but the Federal government allows 550 million gallons in line from Hub Dam and Kenjhar. That’s 45% of the required amount.
- Thirdly, The municipal tax that KMC collects for 25million people is 210 million rupees whereas their official target was 1 billion rupees according to budget.
- In addition, KMC collects less than a 100millon rent against 62 commercial markets which have over 9200 shops.
- Lastly, 17 different agencies have different areas, responsibilities that make collaboration nearly impossible.
Steps That Are Being Taken to Make the City We Love, Lovely.
KMC is carpeting the entire coastal belt of Sindh starting from Manora Island to the KANUPP plant covering all beaches. For water scarcity, to bring water from Hub Dam a new parallel pipeline is under construction. Moreover, a new system from Haleji is under development to bring additional 65 million gallons of water daily. For the southern part of the city desalination plant at Ibrahim Hydri. Such steps will help water crises to resolve in the next 2 years.
Furthermore, KMC is planting Karachi’s indigenous trees all over the city to fight climate change. To resolve the solid waste issue, the Sindh government is planning to produce energy using garbage. This will make Sindh the first province in Pakistan to implement this policy.
Conclusion
Finally, when asked about Local Body Elections Mr. Murtaza Wahab announced by March 2022 Sindh Government will hold elections. The news is yet to be announced officially. It’s apparent that many political parties are willing to take ownership of Karachi and that’s the beauty of democracy.
