Prime Minister Imran Khan has unveiled a “historic” financial package worth Rs1.1tn for Karachi’s transformation that he said will address the chronic municipal and infrastructure issues faced by the country’s financial hub.
The city’s drainage and sewerage issues were brought into national focus last month after record-breaking monsoon rains caused widespread devastation and left dozens dead.
Addressing a press conference in Karachi alongside Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and Governor Imran Ismail after chairing a meeting of the “Karachi committee”, the premier said that the federal and Sindh governments had decided to deal with Karachi’s problems “together” following negotiations.
Noting that floods caused by heavy rains have hit not only Karachi but also Baluchistan, interior Sindh, Swat, and his own constituency of Mianwali, Prime Minister Khan said it was decided, in view of unprecedented rains, that all of Karachi’s issues would be tackled at once, and negotiations were subsequently held.
“I would have come [to Karachi] sooner but we had to make a structure,” he said, revealing that the transformation plan would be implemented through the Provincial Co-ordination Implementation Committee (PCIC) under the chief minister.
He said that all stakeholders will be involved in its implementation.
“The army will play a big role,” Khan added, noting that the army helps the civilian administration whenever there are floods or a calamity.
“The package we have brought for Karachi is historic,” the prime minister said, adding that the federal and provincial governments were both contributing to the Rs1,100bn package.
The first problem the plan will address is that of water supply, and the Centre and Sindh government will each work on a part of the Greater Karachi Water Supply Scheme, also called K-IV.
“Our effort is to permanently solve Karachi’s water problem in three years,” the premier said.
He said that the second problem is of encroachments on nullahs (storm water drains), on which the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has already started work.
“The people who will be displaced [during the anti-encroachment drive] are the poorest, so the Sindh government has taken responsibility for resettling them; the federal government will obviously remove encroachments,” Khan added.
The third and fourth issues that the plan will focus on are the city’s sewerage system and solid waste disposal.
“We will make a proper system,” he said.
“There is also the problem of transport. We will also complete the KCR (Karachi Circular Railway) in this package.
“Then roads [will be built for] the BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) and other lines. We have decided to completely solve the issue of transportation and roads,” Khan said.
The premier said the Centre and Sindh had decided to solve Karachi’s problems together “once and for all” through the co-ordination committee as residents of Karachi “have had to go through a hard time”.
However, he acknowledged that things are not all so simple.
“There were different jurisdictions in different areas, so implementation is difficult,” he said. “That is why we have formed PCIC, so all stakeholders are in one place.”
The prime minister noted that there has been widespread destruction in the interior areas.
“We will sit [with the Sindh government] and discuss how to help,” he said, adding that there is heavy flooding in Swat and Chitral too.
The prime minister said that God had “put us through test before the floods, in the form of the coronavirus” pandemic.
“A big reason for our success [in fighting the coronavirus] was that we made a national co-ordination committee.
“We made a committee very quickly and it met daily, [there was] total co-ordination among the provinces, and our decisions then were better.
“You have seen how cases are rising in India, and there may be no other country that got out so well as Pakistan did,” he added.
Khan said a similar co-ordination committee was made to tackle the locust problem, and now the Centre and Sindh had decided to work jointly to resolve Karachi’s issues.
“We have a short-term plan, then medium- and our long-term plan will not be longer than three years,” the premier said of the Karachi plan.
Khan arrived in Karachi yesterday for a day-long visit to announce the financial package for the implementation of a transformation plan meant to address the city’s issues and developmental requirements.
The premier was accompanied by Information Minister Shibli Faraz and member of the National Assembly (MNA) Amir Mahmood Kayani.
During his visit, the premier met Sindh Governor Ismail and Chief Minister Shah.
He was also expected to meet members of the provincial assembly as well as businessmen, according to the Prime Minister Office (PMO).
Khan was also briefed about the recent situation in Karachi following the rains.
The prime minister chaired a meeting of the “Karachi committee” upon his arrival, which was attended by federal ministers Asad Umar, Faraz, Syed Ali Zaidi, Aminul Haq, the Sindh governor, the Sindh chief minister, and others.
In a tweet a day earlier, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Faisal Javed Khan said that the Karachi Transformation Plan is aimed at addressing the provincial capital’s long-standing problems such as “choked drainage and sewerage systems, encroachments, poor waste disposal, water supply and transport”.
Meanwhile, the information minister said that the prime minster is determined to “restore Karachi’s identity as a true industrial hub” of the country and the backbone of its economy.
“The people of the city cannot be left at the mercy of the Sindh government, which has destroyed Karachi over the past 12 years,” Faraz said in a tweet hours before the premier’s arrival.
Minister for Planning and Development Umar added that the premier will announce the “biggest development package” in the country’s history for any city during his visit.
“This historic work will be carried out by the federal and provincial governments. Politics will not stand in the way of development and the people’s welfare. Similar work will also be carried out in other parts of Sindh.”
On August 27, the premier had said that his government would “not abandon” the city’s people “in their time of crisis”.
Khan had made the statement after a record-breaking monsoon spell wreaked havoc in the city, causing waterlogging and disrupting power in several areas for multiple days, in addition to claiming at least 20 lives.
The premier had said that the federal government was “fully cognisant” of the devastation brought about by the rainfall.
“We will be announcing a plan for a permanent solution to the problems caused by floods by cleaning of nullahs, fixing of the sewage system, and resolving the huge challenge of water supply to the people of Karachi,” he had announced in a series of tweets.
Khan had reviewed the Karachi Transformation Plan on Thursday, officials said.
According to the Prime Minister Office, Khan said the biggest problems in Karachi’s civic matters was a lack of transfer of administrative powers to the gross-root level.
“It is the need of the hour to shift control on water supply schemes, sewerage treatment and disposal, solid waste management and the building control authority from the provincial government to the city administrator or local government to address these problems in Karachi,” the prime was quoted as saying.
The prime minister added that recent torrential rains in Karachi had not only exposed the flaws of the current administrative system, but also created a number of problems for the people of the city.