Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani has said that the provincial government’s total allocation for Karachi in its budget for the financial year 2019-20 is Rs125 billion.
Speaking at a press conference at the media cell of the Pakistan Peoples Party on Friday, the he said that in contrast to the massive allocation in the provincial budget for Karachi, the federal government would spend only Rs12 billion on the development of the city.
He said that earlier the federal government had announced Rs162 billion in a special development package for the city. Ghani dismissed all claims of opposition legislators in the Sindh Assembly that the provincial government had allocated not beyond Rs6.5 billion for Karachi in the new provincial budget. He said such assertions were contrary to the facts.
He said the share of Karachi alone in the Annual Development Programme of the Sindh government for 2019-20 came to Rs36 billion. The local government minister said that other development schemes in the city would be completed with a sum of Rs12.6 billion, which would be arranged through foreign funding. He said a budgetary grant of Rs3.3 billion in the coming financial year would be extended to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and the district municipal corporations of the city.
He said the Sindh government in assistance with the World Bank would spend $1.5 billion on different development schemes of Karachi in the next five years, and the yearly breakdown of this spending came to around Rs47 billion.
He added that the total spending of the Sindh government on Karachi in the coming financial year would reach around Rs125 billion if the budgetary allocations for different Karachi-based hospitals, health institutions and NGOs were also included.
He said that earlier the federal government had issued a notification to take over the three major government-run hospitals of Karachi (NICVD, JPMC, and NICH), but in the new budget it did not allocate any money to run these vital health institutions.
He noted that total budget of the provincial local government department would be Rs35 billion, and Rs22.5 billion of this had been allocated for Karachi alone, i.e. 64 percent of the budget. This allocation includes 55 development schemes for the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board. Ghani said the federal government in its new budget had allocated Rs12 billion for development schemes in Karachi, and this included Rs3.9 billon for six new schemes and Rs8.1 billion for 13 ongoing schemes.
He said the Sindh government had the fullest resolve to complete the K-IV bulk water supply scheme and the S-III sewerage treatment scheme for Karachi, and in this regard it would bear 50 percent cost of these projects no matter how much the cost rose.
The minister said the federal government was yet to respond to a demand of the Sindh government to allocate additional 1,200 cusecs of water for the K-IV project. He said that without allocating the additional quota of 1,200 cusecs water for the city, the completion of the K-IV project would be of no use at all.
He said the cost of the S-III project of Karachi did not increase beyond Rs36 billion, but the federal government in its new budget had not allocated any sum to complete this scheme.
He said the federal government should act fast to conduct its probe to check whether any corruption had been committed in conceiving the K-IV project, and once this probe was completed, it should fulfil its commitment to bear 50 percent expenditure of the project. He said the Sindh government would bear 50 percent cost of the K-IV project even if its cost rose up to Rs100 billion.
He alleged that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement as per its past traditions was once more attempting to do politics on the issue of water shortage in Karachi. He said that a conspiracy could be hatched to stir water riots in Karachi, and for the purpose such employees of the KWSB could be used who were politically aligned with the MQM. He said that such staffers of the KWSB would be dealt with in a stern manner after their due identification.
Ghani said that in future he would expose elements who attempted to do politics on the water issue in Karachi after duly presenting evidence against them. He said the desalination of seawater would provide a permanent solution to the perennial water problem of Karachi.