Ghani wants involvement of UCs in property surveys

Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani on Wednesday directed the officials associated with the Competitive & Liveable City of Karachi (CLICK) project to take on board the union committees in the city regarding their strategy to conduct the property tax survey.

During a meeting he chaired at the CLICK head office, Ghani was informed by CLICK Project Director Ayesha Hameed that the preliminary findings of a property survey to be conducted in partnership with the World Bank has indicated that there are over 3.3 million commercial and residential properties in Karachi.

Ayesha said that these properties include the assets that cannot be taxed. As of now, she added, 954,000 properties in the city are registered with government agencies, including 544,000 buildings whose owners paid the tax, while 432,000 structures are exempt from tax.

Ghani directed the CLICK officials to simplify the property survey procedures. He said LG representatives at town and union committee levels should be involved in the property survey because they have valuable information about their respective areas. The language used in the survey forms should be simple for people to easily fill them, he added.

Offal disposal

During another meeting he chaired, Ghani was briefed about the sanitation affairs in different districts and towns of the city. He directed the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) managing director to adopt a strategy to dispose of offal and remains of sacrificial animals at district and town level.

The LG minister asked the SSWMB MD to consult all the relevant officials for adopting a comprehensive waste disposal drive in connection with Eidul Azha.