KARACHI, Sept 14: A high-powered coordination committee, which was formed two years ago by the federal government to evolve a mechanism for improved coordination among all the civic agencies in the metropolis, has lost its effectiveness after the installation of a Pakistan People’s Party-led government at the centre and in Sindh.

The 22-member committee was constituted with the approval of former prime minister Shaukat Aziz in October 2006. Sindh Chief Secretary Fazlur Rehman issued a notification on October 14 regarding the formation of the Karachi Coordination Committee, aimed at facilitating professional and participatory decision-making on the city’s affairs.

Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan was its chairman and other members included the chief secretary, additional chief secretary (development), city nazim, secretaries of finance, law, local government departments, member land utilisation department, inspector-general of police, chairmen of the Karachi Port Trust, Port Qasim Authority, Export Promotion Bureau, Pakistan Steel Mills and Export Processing Zone Authority, managing directors of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation and Sui Southern Gas Company, director-generals of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company and military land department, administrator of the Defence Housing Authority, a representative of Corps-V headquarters, divisional superintendent of the Pakistan Railway and Karachi district coordination officer.

Under the terms of reference, the committee was supposed to provide guidance and inputs for preparation and effective implementation of a coherent master plan of the city and coordinated infrastructure for various civic utilities; coordinate and bring about uniformity in the building control codes and land use policies by all agencies including DHA, cantonment boards etc; evolve system for coordination, liaison joint monitoring; reduce inter-agency issues with respect to civic facilities like general cleanliness, sewerage, water supply and disposal of solid waste; identify and analyse critical administrative obstruction to foreign and local investment and develop mechanism to promote private investment.

Well-placed sources told Dawn that former president Pervez Musharraf was behind the formation of the committee as he wanted all stakeholders, including federal bodies, to work collectively for the development of Karachi.

They said that when the committee was formed, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement had absolute administrative control on the urban areas of Sindh due to the fact that former chief minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid did not interfere in the affairs of Karachi.

The sources said that the committee’s working was badly affected due to the political upheavals after the March 9 presidential reference was filed against deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and later when emergency was imposed by the former president.

After the Feb 18 general election, the MQM became a coalition partner in Sindh after a series of talks with the PPP that emerged as the single largest party in the province. However, the MQM was not given planning and development, local government and finance departments which rendered the committee ineffective because the centre of power is now shifted from the Governor’s House to the Chief Minister’s House, the sources said.

They said the Sindh government could neither abolish the coordination committee nor induct new faces in it because the committee was formed after the approval of the prime minister and it could be dissolved only by him.

Although the committee remained ineffective during the last many months the governor did not want its abolition as it could help resolve many issues hindering the city’s development due to control of multiple agencies and problem of jurisdiction. The fate of the coordination committee hung in the balance as it had not been decided whether the chief minister or any other elected leader of the PPP would replace the governor as its chairman or the committee would be abolished, the sources said. However, they said, in view of the PPP-MQM relationship, the government would consult newly elected President Asif Ali Zardari before taking any decision.