No new uplift schemes for city
The federal government has announced no new development projects for Karachi in the upcoming budget.
Funds have been earmarked, however, for schemes, which have seen little to no progress over the years.
The long-overdue revival of the Karachi Circular Railways (KCR) seems to have been put on the backburner for another fiscal year (FY), by the federal government at least. Just Rs300 million have been reserved for the project against an estimated cost of Rs8.7 billion. Meanwhile, an amount of Rs2.35 billion has been reserved for the K-IV project.
Separately, the federal budget has earmarked Rs3 billion for Karachi's Green Line Rapid Transit System, while Rs1billion have been set aside to fund the Combined Effluent Treatment Plant for the industrial areas of the metropolis.
In addition to this, Rs18 billion have been reserved for Karachi coastal power project units I and II. Rs6.035 trillion of the total cost of Rs9.058 trillion will be met through foreign investment.
Separately, Rs2.5 billion have been earmarked for the construction of the 392 kilometre Sukkur-Multan section of the Peshawar-Karachi Motorway. Also, Rs7billion has been allocated for the M-3 section of the Lahore Multan Motorway and Rs250m has been set aside for the construction of the 134.5km Karachi-Hyderabad M-9 Motorway.
This is besides the Rs1.5 billion allocated for the purchase of land for the Karachi-Lahore Motorway.
Also, Rs95.4m will be used in the upcoming fiscal year for the construction and repair of roads in the South district. At the same time, Rs155.9 million has been allocated to improve the sewerage system in the West district.
In FY 2021-22, Rs1.45 billion will be collectively utilisied for the construction and repair of roads and improvement of the sewerage system in Korangi and Malir districts. Similarly Rs.606.3m have been re-served for the construction of roads and improvement of sewerage system in the East district.
Meanwhile, Rs1.32 billion has been allocated for the construction of roads and improvement of the sewerage system in Central district. As much as Rs384m will be spent to improve the KMC's firefighting system.
Moreover, Rs350m has been allocated for the reconstruction of Nishtar and Manghopir roads, while Rs650m will be used to construct the road from Jam Chakro to Banaras. 'Karachi package projects nearing completion' Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Sindh MPA Arsalan Ghumman has accused the provincial government of failing to realise its obligation towards the masses.
"The work undertaken by PTI in Karachi in a short span of time has not been delivered by PPP the in past 10 years," said Ghumman. He claimed that PM Imran Khan's special package for Karachi is fast underway.
He continued that some projects are near completion in Gulshan-e-Iqbal. The MPA, representing residents of PS - 102 (Karachi East-IV), shared that the road stretching from Children Hospital to the Imam Bargah in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Block V had been inaccessible for years, but has finally been completed.
He added that leaking underground water supply lines in Baloch Goth off Gulshan-e-Iqbal 13-D are fast being replaced.
Ghumman pointed out that the people, who had been denied the basic right of sanitation, are being compensated. "We plan to reconstruct busy thoroughfares in localities mainly inhabited by people of scarce resources," the MPA said.
Ghumman further mentioned that the road connecting traffic from Hasan Square towards Gulshan-e-Iqbal's 13-D has been recently completed after been left unattended by the provincial government.