KARACHI, April 24: The Sindh government has reconstituted the Karachi Building Control Authority and the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, replacing City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal with Local Government Minister Agha Siraj Durrani as authority for the KBCA and chairman for the KWSB.

The change of guard at the two crucial organisations was effected by two notifications issued by the provincial government on Thursday. The changes come into force with immediate effect.

Analysts say that Thursday’s move will be seen as an attempt by the provincial government at the curtailment of the nazim’s powers.

Sources told Dawn that under the Sindh Building Control Ordinance, 1979 the KBCA used to be under the minister for local government. However, the Karachi nazim got the control of the KBCA through a notification issued on April 30, 2004.

The notification (NO.SO (L&C)HTP/1-8/2008) issued on Thursday says: “In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 4 of the Sindh Building Control Ordinance, 1979 and in suppression of the [local government] department’s notification…[of] April 30, 2004 and all other notifications issued in this behalf, the government of Sindh are pleased to appoint the minister, local government, katchi abadis and spatial development department, Karachi, to act as authority for whole province of Sindh within the meaning of Section 4 of the SBCO, 1979 with immediate effect.”

The sources said that the local government minister also headed the KWSB under the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board Act 1996 until February 2002 when, through a notification, the Karachi nazim was inducted as KWSB chairman.

They said that in the notification issued for the reconstitution of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, the main difference from the Dec 31, 2002 notification was that the newly formed board comprised over 20 members while the suppressed board consisted of 13 members.

Another difference was that in the earlier board the vice-chairman of the board used to be the secretary of the local government department while in the reconstituted board MPA Haji Munawwar Ali Abbasi was appointed its vice-chairman.Likewise, the city nazim was made a member in place of the DCO. Other members are: the additional chief secretary (Dev), the secretaries for the local government dept, industries dept, finance dept, the special secretary for housing and town planning, five town nazims to be co-opted by the chairman, the KPT chairman, the KESC chairman, the Karachi Chamber and Commerce Industries president, the KWSB MD, the executive officer, Military Lands Karachi, a nominee of the chairman, DHA, and the divisional superintendent of the Pakistan Railways, Karachi.

In the previous board, the members strength used to be 13: chairman — city nazim; vice chairman — secretary for the local government, the secretary for the environment department, the special secretary (Dev), the finance dept, the DCO of Karachi, the chief planning & development dept, the EDO (water & sanitation) the CDGK, the MD of the KWSB, the KESC MD, the EDO (works & services) CDGK, a representative of the Association of Builders and Developers, Shafi Mohammad Lakho, president of the KCCI and president of the SITE Association of Industries, Karachi.