KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Friday said some 449 schemes of the Annual Development Plan (ADP) costing Rs40.6 billion were going on in the teeming city and 11 new schemes worth Rs7bn were being launched to uplift Karachi’s beauty.

He said this while presiding over a meeting to review the progress of ongoing schemes and discuss the new schemes in the pipeline.

Local Government Minister Nasir Shah, Adviser to the CM Murtaza Wahab, chairman of P&D Mohammad Waseem, secretaries of finance and local government, Hassan Naqvi and Roshan Shaikh, director general, Karachi Development Authority, managing director of Karachi Water and Sewerage Board Asadullah Khan, and project director, Karachi Package, Khalid Masroor, and others attended the meeting.

Briefing the chief minister, the local government minister said 11 new schemes had been identified, as suggested by the CM.

They included construction of Shahrah-i-Noor Jahan from Abdullah College to Qalandaria Chowk, Shahjehan Avenue from Water Pump to Qalandaria Chowk, including restoration of storm-water drain, a flyover at Safoora Chowk, a bridge at Jauhar Chowrangi, construction of road from Grex Village to Y-Junction, including construction of storm-water drain, construction of Rais Ahmed Jaferi Road from Peoples Chowrangi to the bank, including storm-water drain, underpass at Stargate, two-lane bridge at Garden Road, underpass at Sibghatullah Shah Rashdi Road at National Stadium, construction of roads surrounding the Supreme Court Registry building, renovation of Empress Market, including greenery, fixation of broken glasses, restoration of old stones, repairs of its clock and lighting effects around the market.

The chief minister directed the chairman of P&D, secretary of LG and project director of Karachi Package to sit together and prepare schemes so that they could be approved in time and launched at the earliest. These schemes could cost around Rs7bn.

CM Shah said he had released Rs15.14bn against 449 ongoing schemes worth Rs40.6bn under the Karachi Package.

Expressing his displeasure, the chief minister said against the release of Rs15bn only Rs7.1bn had been utilised.

Minister Nasir Shah said patchwork of streets in six districts had been launched recently. The utilisation of funds would be more than the expected expenditures.

CM Shah also expressed his serious displeasure on delays in opening the left track of the street going from Chaudhry Khaliq-uz-Zaman Road towards DHA Phase-II.

The chief minister was told a building on the left side of Punjab Chowrangi Road had been vacated; yet, two shops remained. The chief minister said he had gone through the layout plan that showed the building was illegal construction, directing the city commissioner to get it bulldozed and restore the track or road towards Sunset Boulevard.

The CM pointed out that most key streets were being used as parking spaces for vehicles. The entire Chaudhry Khaliq-uz-Zaman Road, including that at Delhi Colony, Tariq Road, Clifton’s streets, and many streets in Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Nazimabad and North Nazimabad were giving look of car parking. He asked the city commissioner to pass on his directives to the DIG Traffic to take action and submit a report.

Karachi Zoological Gardens

When the scheme of Karachi Zoological Gardens came under discussion, Mr Shah again expressed his dismay over the slow pace of work.

“This is quite unacceptable that this scheme is being carried out so sluggishly, though I have released all the funds required,” he said.

Mr Shah said the elephant in the zoo was not trained to give rides to children, directing the LG minister to purchase an Asian elephant on which children could get rides.

The chief minister said the schemes that had been completed such as Hyder Ali Road underpass, Tipu Sultan underpass, Sunset Boulevard bridge, bridges at Korangi among others would be taken out from the ADP book by submitting their PC-IV.

Mr Shah asked the commissioner to talk to the authorities concerned and get work on Natha Khan u-turn started.

“I want to inaugurate it latest by April,” he said.

He also indicated that the work on the storm-water drain from Stargate to Chakore Nala was left incomplete and ordered to resume the scheme.

Mr Shah said the road running towards KN Academy should be reconstructed.

It was also decided to beautify various roads such as Stadium Road. Reconstruction of Kakri Ground, completion of 8000 Road, and development of North Nazimabad Park was also decided in the meeting.

Mr Shah directed the chairman of P&D to prepare a scheme for construction of Mehran Highway for the next fiscal and it would be completed the same year.

He was told that widening of Orangi bridge had been completed. Mr Shah said he would visit to review the ongoing schemes in next 15 days, thus, work on them must have proper pace and dedication.

He asked the KWSB chief to visit the city and conduct a survey of the existing gutter system and order for repairing those which were damaged and their sewage was making streets dirty.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2020