Ghani trashes rhetoric of ‘no funds for Karachi’

Lists allocations for local, foreign-funded projects

KARACHI:

People yelling their throats hoarse that there are no funds for Karachi in the Sindh Budget 2024-25 should read the document, said Minister for Local Government, Housing, Town Planning, Public Health Engineering, and Rural Development Saeed Ghani on Wednesday.

"The Sindh government has allocated Rs74 billion for the Local Government Department, while Rs60 billion will be spent on various foreign-funded projects, totalling Rs134 billion for 1137 schemes," the minister said.

Speaking on the floor of the Sindh Assembly he said that Rs448 billion will be spent in four phases on the Karachi Water and Sewerage Services Improvement Project.

Saeed Ghani said that he welcomes the registration of a case against K Electric, which is a major cause of deaths due to load shedding during the intense heat.

The provincial minister said that instead of launching new schemes, the current budget focuses on completing ongoing projects, as announced by the Chief Minister in his budget speech. However, the Chief Minister has allocated Rs12 billion for the Hub Canal project, which is a significant development for Karachi. Saeed Ghani lamented that the opposition is trying to create a misconception that no development work is being done in Karachi, which is misleading the public. He said that the PPP has been working to resolve Karachi's issues for years.

He said that currently, 551 local government schemes worth Rs35 billion and 985 other departmental schemes worth Rs344 billion were underway in Karachi. Saeed Ghani said that the mega project for Karachi is also being criticized, but he welcomes the criticism and will address it.