Mayor asks Sindh govt to ‘let KMC work’ 

Akhtar says he will raise Hub Dam water supply issue with
Wapda; vows to make Bagh Ibne Qasim beautiful again

Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar has once again urged the Sindh government to let the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) work and provide it with powers and resources so that it could effectively work for the city.

He made reiterated the request while addressing a press conference at Bagh Ibne Qasim in Clifton on Friday. He visited the public park days after the Sindh High Court stayed a decision of the provincial government to hand over the park to a private builder for renovation. 

The mayor announced that renovation work would be started and efforts made to ensure greenery in the park.

Replying to a question about the K-IV bulk water supply project, he said he was not aware of the source where water for the project would come and who would use it.

Referring to the K-III bulk water supply, he denied knowledge of where its water was going. About the S-III Greater Sewerage project, he said: “I am not aware where it exists.”

Akhtar, who was elected mayor last year and has been critical of the provincial government for keeping him powerless, said that a lot of problems would have to be resolved in the park in the first phase, and then sand would be replaced so that grass, plants and flowers could be grown there.

During the visit, the mayor was accompanied by senior parks officers, including Azad, who said water pipelines in Bagh Ibne Qasim had become choked in the past eight years and they had to be cleaned. An engineer told the mayor that underground electricity cables had been removed and the new ones would be required.

Akhtar said that very soon all relevant officials would be held accountable for the neglecting the recreational spot. “All departments have been ruined. Give me some time to re-organise things.”

A top priority was to remove garbage from Bagh Ibne Qasim, he said, adding that his objective was to make the park beautiful for the citizens.

The mayor said political leaders were also involved, besides administrators, in ruining the park over the past nine years.

When his attention was drawn to the fact that most parks in the city were being used for commercial purposes and his chairmen were also involved, Akhtar vowed that all of them would be taken to task.

He said he had come there after the court verdict. He added that he had held an in-house meeting in which he had decided to visit the park and start rehabilitation and renovation work with the KMC’s limited resources.

He said architects of the city were ready to help in revamping the park and he had invited them for this purpose. The mayor said he would also involve private parties but at a later stage.

When asked to comment on former city Nazim Mustafa Kamal’s allegations against him at a press conference on Thursday, the mayor said that at the moment he did not want to get entangled in other matters. “Qeechar mein pathar nahi phenkna chahatay is waqt.”

Answering the question if he would join the Pak Sarzameen Party since he himself was making the same demands that Mustafa Kamal was making, Akhtar said all the elected political parties of the city were with him.

Replying to a query about the Hub Dam water supply row with the Water and Power Development Authority, he said he would take up the issue with the relevant authorities very soon.