JI rejects proposed budgetary allocations for Karachi

Karachi Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Emir Munem Zafar Khan has said the proposed federal budget for 2025-26 shows that Karachi, which is the economic powerhouse of the country, has been ignored in the priorities list of the ruling lawmakers.

To react to the federal budget that was presented in the National Assembly on Tuesday, the JI leader held a press conference at the Idara Noor-e-Haq on Wednesday. He stated that the federal budget was a jigsaw puzzle of statistics and core issues had been neglected in that.

He demanded that Rs500 million be allocated for the development of Karachi. He pointed out that an information technology park initiated in 2022 was supposed to be completed in 2026 but only Rs6 billion were allocated in the budget for that IT Park, which was nothing but peanuts and showed that the federal government was not interested in the completion of the project.

Further criticising the approach of the federal government, he said the budget for the higher education was reduced from Rs65 billion to Rs39.5 billion. Talking about the energy sector, he said the government slapped the solar energy sector with 18 per cent taxation in a serious blow to the newly developing sector.

Khan said the federal government had neglected the needs of Karachi. He highlighted the case of the incomplete Green Line and other projects. Karachi had always been deprived of its due share in resources and rights despite the fact that it provided lifeline and contributed significantly to the national exchequer, the JI leader said. He recalled that in 2007-08, before the passage of the 18th Amendment, the federal government used to grant Rs178 billion to Sindh, but now that grant had increased to Rs1, 853 billion rupees. Against this backdrop, he said, the Sindh government needed to devolve administrative and monetary powers.

He expressed concern over the government neglecting proposals by traders and taxpayer, and following dictation by the International Monetary Fund. The JI leader said the K-IV water supply was the most important project for the city’s future but it seemed that the federal government had shelved it. He said Rs40 billion had been demanded for the project but only Rs3.2bn was allocated for it despite the fact that it was supposed to be completed by June 2026 before the next budget.

He said a total of Rs133 billion was allocated for the water resources division, but the allocation for the K-IV project was Rs3.2bn — almost 2.5 per cent of the division’s budget. It simply showed that those in the corridors of powers did not want to grant more than Zakat or alums to Karachi and its residents, he ramarked. Criticising the Sindh government, he said the Pakistan Peoples Party had practically handed over the mega projects of Karachi to contractors.