Karachi belongs to all of us: Wahab

Newly appointed Karachi Administrator Murtaza Wahab said on Friday that his first priority is to end politics of hate and differences.

"I will give a policy after preparing my action plan regarding city service. We will immediately give as much relief as we can to the citizens," he said, speaking to the media at the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) building after he took charge as its chief.

"Karachi belongs to all of us. If necessary, we will also sit down with the federation and discuss the issues of Karachi," said Wahab.

On his arrival at the KMC, Wahab was received by Municipal Commissioner Danish Saeed and other officers.

"I don't want to blame anyone. We have to improve this city. Everything can be done if the intention is clear, I don't want to talk about problems, I believe in solutions. In these circumstances, whatever KMC can do, if they bring truthfulness, honesty and sincerity in their words, then it will serve the city," he said.

The administrator directed the departmental heads to formulate their own action plan, provide full details of what they will do to improve the city in the next 30 days and explain how the issues of parks can be fixed.

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Reminding that Karachi is the city of lights, Wahab vowed to work on the streets and not remain confined to the office. "We will definitely give relief to the citizens. No institution in the world can function without financial stability. We need to achieve the target of tax and other collections," he added.

The administrator said he would be briefing all departments next week onwards on improving things in the city. KMC has served the city in the past and it will play its part again, claimed Wahab, who is also the advisor to the Sindh chief minister on law and the spokesperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party-led Sindh government.

There are several problems plaguing Karachi and the cooperation of citizens is needed to end them, said the administrator. He acknowledged that the city witnesses water shortages frequently but added that the matter could not be solved instantly.

"I do not have control of the water board [Karachi Water and Sewerage Board] but it is a civic body of the city and we will coordinate with it."

In reply to a question, he said that if PPP was a bigoted, he would not be here. "Any officer or other employee belonging to any party has to fulfill its responsibility and we need to work together. I will not go into the details of what happened in the past, I will just say that god willing we will move towards betterment from here."

Published in The Express Tribune, August 7^th, 2021.