Governor forms working groups to earn Karachi ‘real metropolis status’

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, while presiding over a meeting of the Karachi Transformation Committee (KTC) on Friday, constituted four working groups on water, transport, master plan and housing and investment.

The working groups have been asked to hold meetings on a regular basis, work in coordination with the Karachi Infrastructure Development Company Limited (KIDCL) team, provide regular updates on their work and submit their recommendations to the KTC for implementation on various projects.

The he participants of the meeting were told that KTC would act as an advisory body and was mandated to develop a comprehensive strategy, in consultation with the Sindh government and local government institutions for a “Naya Karachi”.

The KTC would focus on key infrastructure-related challenges in the metropolis and improving the service standards for the common citizens. The governor also directed the authorities concerned to accelerate the pace of work on various federal government-funded projects in Karachi. He underlined the significance of strengthening the local governments in transitioning Karachi into a city of real metropolis status.

“KTC is attaching high priority to develop a Master Infrastructure Plan to address the long-standing issues of Karachi to enable the emergence of the city, as a well planned and modern 21st century city,” he vowed.

Earlier, the meeting was briefed about Karachi issues and challenges in details. The governor directed the officials to engage with as many concerned stakeholders as possible for the KTC to succeed in its mission, and to bring them on board. “Members of civil society, business community, media, professional bodies, academia, women groups and others should be involved in the Naya Karachi Plan for successful implementation of the vision of the PM,” he added.

The meeting was attended by Federal Minister for Information Technology Khalid Maqbool Siddiqi, MNA Aftab Siddiqi, MNA Muhammad Najeeb Haroon, MPA Firdous Shamim Naqvi, MPA Khurram Sher Zaman, MPA Hasnain Mirza, Mayor Wasim Akhtar, former MPA Faisal Sabzwari, former MPA Samar Ali Khan, KIDCL’s CEO Muhammad Sualeh A Farooqi, Hub Power Holding Limited’s CEO Rohail Muhammad and other members.