Karachi package fails to save the city

Mayor, LG minister blame each other for city’s sorry state

KARACHI: The Sindh government’s Rs10 billion package for Karachi and the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) multi-millions could not bring respite for citizens during the recent rains. Instead of working and providing relief to citizens, political gimmicks and blame games were started by the provincial government and Mayor Wasim Akhtar.
According to official records, the government spent around Rs7.5 billion on Karachi in the last financial year and released Rs4 billion to the mayor for development schemes, along with Rs500 million for cleaning stormwater drains. Apart from this, Rs100 million has been given to each district municipal corporation (DMC) as separate funds for cleanliness of small drains and lifting garbage but the situation on ground is dismal.



“The Sindh Solid Waste Management Board [SSWMB] is currently working in two districts - South and East - but their role is just to lift the garbage. They cannot clean drains. I want to ask the mayor why he failed to utilise huge amounts of funds released to him and his DMCs,” Local Government Minister Jam Khan Shoro questioned.
Responding to the mayor’s allegations that he and the KMC have no powers and funds, Shoro said, “There are around 195 small and large drains in Karachi”. It is the responsibility of the KMC and DMCs to maintain them yet they have failed to deliver, he said. Shoro held the mayor and KMC responsible for not utilising the Rs10 billion for the Karachi package and its impact on citizens in the wake of recent rains.

According to official sources, most of the funds were utilised on Sharea Faisal, University Road, Tariq Road, Saddar drainage systems and underpasses in the city. “Around 60% of the city’s garbage is disposed of in drains. How can one bring a change in this situation?” a senior KMC official asked, adding that instead of levelling allegations and doing politics on Karachi’s civic issues, the stakeholders should work together.



Looking at the prevailing situation of stormwater drains one can assume no proper attention was given to their cleanliness. “People have built high-rise buildings on almost all drains and it has become a political issue. Karachi’s situation cannot be improve until encroachments on drains are removed and a proper mechanism for disposal of solid waste and sewerage is not in place,” a senior local government official explained, adding that the Chinese companies and SSWMB have only set up garbage containers and dustbins in two districts and dump most of the garbage back into nullahs.

Akhtar said that he was ‘toothless’ and all the powers rest with the provincial government and its allied functionaries, such the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board and SSWMB. “We have limited funds and no authority so how one can expect drastic changes?,” he said, adding, “Despite limited resources, we are working to drain out the water but it is not easy to tackle the situation.”



Regarding a solution, he said, “There is a dire need to revamp the entire sewerage system of Karachi. I have also informed the chief minister but nothing has been done.”

During the downpour, officials of the KMC, DMCs and local government were missing and the people and even the media had no idea about Shoro’s whereabouts. He is the focal person dealing with multiple stakeholders in disastrous situations. Not only political opponents, but Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders also criticised the minister for his failure to deal with the rain emergency in Karachi. Former MNA and federal minister Nabeel Gabool said, “Shoro and the SSWMB managing director are useless”. The city is drowning, he said.



“Lyari River’s water has entered the homes of citizens in Lyari yet the minister is not available and people are dying,” he said, demanding Shoro’s replacement.“The people responsible in the local government are incapable or do not have the will to work for the relief of the common man,” he lamented.
PPP MPA Sharmila Faruqui said, “I have left 20 messages and called Shoro five times but got no response”. Defending himself, Shoro said that he, along with the information minister, visited various areas of the city and monitored all activities of local government and KMC employees.