KARACHI: While “regretting” about the past when the government had failed to come up with a comprehensive plan for the development of Karachi, President Dr Arif Alvi on Saturday vowed that the federal government was not going to “ignore the plight of people” of the metropolis and called for early resolution of major infrastructure issues of the business capital.

The resolve from the top came at a meeting held at the Governor House and chaired by the president, who sat with senior provincial and federal dignitaries to discuss the Rs1.1 trillion Karachi Transformation Plan to resolve the major infrastructure issues of the metropolis.

“President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi chaired a high-level meeting at Governor House and discussed the Karachi Transformation Plan to resolve major infrastructure issues of the metropolitan city,” said a statement issued by Governor House after the meeting.

The president chairs a meeting where Asad Umar warns of a fourth Covid-19 wave across Pakistan

“The meeting was attended by Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, Federal Minister for Planning & Development Asad Umar and MNA Aftab Siddiqi. The president said that the country’s development and progress is linked with the development of Karachi,” it added.

The president was briefed in detail about the projects being carried out in Karachi through funding of the federal government and progress of schemes being designed in different areas.

Call to preserve water

“We can no longer ignore the plight of the people,” the statement quoted President Dr Alvi as saying. He said that the federal government was playing its due role in addressing Karachi’s issues that ranged from civic infrastructure development to introducing reforms in public sector institutions.

The president also laid a particular emphasis on the importance of water conservation in Karachi, the statement said, adding that Dr Alvi regretted that no such plan to preserve water was formulated in the past.

“The Sindh governor updated the president about Karachi’s problems relating to availability of clean drinking water, sewerage, solid waste management, transport and apprised him of the measures being adopted by the federal government for their solution,” said the statement.

The meeting also discussed the growing cases of Covid-19 in the country, particularly in Karachi.

“Federal Minister Asad Umar informed the meeting that there were clear signs of a fourth wave of Covid-19 starting in the country, primarily due to poor compliance of SOPs [standard operating procedures] and arrival of the Indian variant,” said the statement.

The president stressed that the people should get themselves vaccinated as early as possible. He also advised to follow instructions of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) to help check spread of the disease.

He maintained that proactive decision-making had helped Pakistan avoid the kind of situation being witnessed in other countries.

NDMA chief calls on governor

Later, the Sindh governor held a meeting with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) chairman Lieutenant General Nawaz Satti and discussed with him the progress of different projects being executed by the authority in different parts of Karachi along with cleanliness of the city’s storm drains and nullahs amid the approaching monsoon.

“The governor assured the NDMA chairman [of] every possible support and help in timely completion of development projects being supervised by his agency in the city,” a statement released from Governor House said.

It added that Lt Gen Satti showed confidence that the NDMA would complete all the development projects within stipulated time.

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2021