KARACHI: The Karachi Port Trust (KPT) on Friday released Rs230 million to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), out of over Rs650m, in the first phase in the head of municipal utility charges and taxes (MUCT) it owed to the corporation.

Handing over a cheque for the amount to KMC Administrator Barrister Murtaza Wahab at a ceremony at the KPT headquarters, Maritime Affairs Minister Faisal Subzwari said the KPT had decided in principle to pay whatever amount was due to the KMC.

“The KPT wanted to start four big projects in Karachi for which it required a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the provincial government, but due to no coordination between the two institutions, the NOC could not be issued,” he said, adding that the issue would, however, be resolved through mutual trust.

He said that receiving Rs 230m from the KPT in the form of municipal tax would make the KMC financially stable. “This amount will be spent on the development of Karachi,” he added.

Wahab says KE to collect MUCT and deposit amount in KMC accounts

Barrister Wahab, who is also provincial government’s spokesman and chief minister’s adviser on law, thanked the federal minister and KPT chief for taking a positive step for the improvement of the KMC.

Later, briefing the media, he said that no institution could run without taxation and the development of the city was actually the development of the KPT as it was an important institution of the city.

To a question regarding collection of MUCT through electricity bills, he said it was being collected since 2009 and was not a new tax, adding that the tax amount had been reduced instead of being increased. “A tax ranging from Rs50 to Rs200 will be collected,” he said and added that earlier, Rs5,000 per unit was used to be collected from industrial zones.

Barrister Wahab said that the money that KE would collect for the KMC would be in the form of a cheque and deposited into the KMC account.

It may be recalled that the then City District Government Karachi (CDGK) had in 2008 introduced the municipal service charges in replacement of fire tax and conservancy charges for the maintenance and development of municipal services from Jan 2009.

Meanwhile, informed sources told Dawn that an amount of Rs649.6m was outstanding against the residents and commercial/industrial consumers within the jurisdiction of the KPT.

The sources said the KMC had written to the KPT on July 17, 2017 asking it to pay dues.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2022