Murad urges mayor to involve experts in restoration of Empress Market

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has urged Mayor Karachi Waseem Akhtar to involve heritage experts in the restoration of historical Empress Market so that its original beauty could be extracted.

This he said while talking to him on telephone.

The chief minister said that after removal of encroachment from the surroundings of Empress Market, it [Empress Market] has emerged into its original shape. 

“Now, its restoration is a most important and sensitive task which must be made in consultation and guidance of the heritage experts,” he said and added the sandblasting without proper guidance of the experts would make the British era market dull.

Mr Shah said that after restoration of law and order in the city the removal of encroachments was another challenging job which has been done properly and is still in progress. 

“The areas which have been cleared [from encroachment] must be made neat and clean,” he said and added that he had a plan to restore all the old buildings through a World Bank-sponsored project and the provincial government would also utilize its resources, he assured the mayor.

The chief minister said that Karachi belongs to each and every one of us and we have to make its neat and clean and one of the best livable cities of the world. “All the heritage buildings located in the old areas of the city would be restored in their original shape,” he said and the scheme to restore the old city from Pakistan chowk to Saddar would be accelerated and on the same pattern other areas of the city would also be restored.

The mayor said that he was involving leading experts in the restoration work of the market.