As part of the efforts to help increase the revenue of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), Sindh’s local government minister has directed the municipal body to identify land in the city for setting up new filling stations, as well as revise the rents of 71 markets and 274 Hawkesbay huts.
Syed Nasir Hussain Shah issued these directions to KMC Administrator Laeeq Ahmed on Wednesday during the first meeting of the committee formed to explore new avenues of revenue generation for the city’s municipal body, according to a statement released by the provincial government.
Shah said that expressions of interest should be flouted for petroleum marketing companies to run the filling stations that would be established by the KMC. He said that the KMC and the district municipal corporations could resolve the issue of payment of pension and other dues of their employees by increasing their revenue generation and properly using their assets.
He also said that legal bottlenecks should be removed to increase the rents of the 11 existing filling stations of the KMC, adding that two or three markets should be selected out of the 71 markets of the municipal body to prepare public-private partnership proposals.
“KMC owns valuable assets. They need to be utilised in a proper way,” pointed out the minister. He ordered that a survey should be conducted to find the exact number of shops and other properties of the municipal body.
Shah said that a proposal should also be prepared for setting up a grand shopping mall or plaza with public-private partnership on the land near the Glass Tower where 100 quarters are located and provide alternative accommodations to the residents.
He said that neither would new taxes be levied nor would any increase be made in the existing taxes. “The tax collection system must be made transparent and it should be ensured that all the revenue goes to the exchequer instead of in anyone’s pocket.”
He directed Board of Revenue Senior Member Qazi Shahid Pervaiz to make the transfer of properties in the city conditional to the clearance of municipal utility charges and taxes, so that no property could be transferred without the clearance certificate issued by the KMC.
He also ordered that the collection of the municipal utility charges and taxes of commercial establishments should be outsourced in the first phase to achieve 100 per cent of the collection target.
The minister sought details of litigation against the KMC, along with the period of pendency, within three days and issued an order for the suspension of the municipal body’s law director.
He suggested hiring the services of reputable law firms to end the litigation due to which the KMC was bearing revenue losses of billions of rupees. He said that the expenses of the law firms would be borne by the provincial government.
The meeting was also attended by LG Secretary Najam Ahmed Shah, Public-Private Partnership Director General Khalid Khan, Municipal Commissioner Syed M Afzal Zaidi, KMC Senior Director Masood Alam and Sindh Building Control Authority DG Shamsuddin Soomro.