HYDERABAD, Oct 14: The adviser to the Sindh Chief Minister for local bodies, Mr Waseem Akhtar, has said that next local bodies elections must be held on party basis because it is essential for promoting democratic culture in the country.

Taking to journalists at the circuit house here on Thursday, he opposed new delimitation, saying that it was not necessary because the existing delimitation was catering to need of the people. However, he added that even if it was necessary, only the NRB could take a decision.

Answering a question, he said that a fund of Rs241 million from the governor's package would be released within one week. He said that the matter had been finalised and was lying with the provincial finance department. "I would personally look into it," added the adviser.

Likewise, he said, Rs10.5 billion of the Hyderabad Development Package would also be released soon because an advertisement for appointment of its project director had been issued.

About devolution of the Hyderabad Development Authority, he said that the HDA was not being devolved to protect public interests because there were several housing projects which the government was trying to revive as public money was involved in it.

However, he said that once the matter was settled, the HDA would be devolved because it had to be devolved according to the law. Saying that the Sindh Local Government Ordinance needed amendments because it contained several flaws, he said that recommendations it his regard had been submitted by the provincial local government ministry to the National Reconstruction Bureau.

He added that the amendments would be finalised by the president in consultation with the NRB chairman. Mr Akhtar said that union council nazims had powers and they were required to make their presence felt

Insisting that there was no conflict between the City District Government Karachi and the Sindh government, he said that it was just a question of implementation of rules and regulations of the SLGO which, according to him, were being flouted by City Nazim Naimatullah Khan.

He said that Mr Khan did not turn up in a session of the provincial local government commission despite having been served a notice under section 25 of the SLGO. "It is within my domain to look into misappropriation by the CDGK officials and check their performance," he said.

He further said that the CDGK had to work within certain framework provided under the SLGO and alleged that the city nazim was bent upon violating it. The adviser said that had there been personal confrontation, he would not have let the nazim visit abroad 34 times.

Severely criticising the nazim, Mr Akhtar asserted that billions of rupees had been released to the CDGK but its performance had remained zero. He added that schemes that were being executed in Karachi had been conceived before the devolution of powers.

He said that charged parking had been done away with despite the fact that the city council had opposed it but banners had been displayed in Karachi felicitating the nazim on the issue.

He said that PC-1 of Rs29 billion president's package had not been submitted yet to the provincial government though Karachi Port Trust and Export Promotion Board had submitted their schemes.

He said that the CDGK had included schemes of the annual development programme in the Karachi package that was exclusively meant for mega projects. He alleged that the Karachi nazim took legal advice from his consultants who were enjoying perks and privileges in violation of the SLGO.