KMC faces shortfall of Rs833.5m for development schemes

The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) is facing a shortfall of Rs833.5 million in its Annual Development Program (ADP) due to the Sindh government’s failure to release funds.

According to a statement issued by the KMC, apart from a shortfall of Rs833.5 million that is to be paid by the Sindh government, the payment of Rs1,667 million for new schemes has also not been made by the provincial government yet.

This matter was brought up in a meeting chaired by KMC Metropolitan Commissioner (MC) Dr Syed Saifur Rehman. Dr Rehman said once the government released payments to the KMC according to its policy, work was initiated and completed on development schemes.

He asked the heads of various KMC departments to ascertain how much work had been completed on the ongoing schemes. He also asked them to provide a timeline for the completion of such schemes. The MC directed the relevant departments to complete the schemes related to different buildings of the KMC as soon as possible.

The KMC finance department informed Dr Rehman that the corporation’s engineering department had initiated work on 227 schemes as per the ADP of 2018-19. Approximately Rs2 billion was allocated for these schemes, of which only Rs 1.712 billion had so far been released by the Sindh government, the meeting was told.

The municipal department of the KMC allocated Rs127 million for 10 different schemes, of which Rs49 million was released by the Sindh government. The transport and communication department allocated Rs84 million for five schemes but only Rs64 million was released.

The health department initiated 37 schemes and allocated Rs305 million for them; however, only Rs103 million was released. The park and horticulture department initiated 73 schemes by allocating Rs525 million, but they received only 385 million.

The culture, sports and recreation department allocated Rs160 million for 19 different schemes but the Sindh government released only Rs115 million. The information technology department also initiated seven schemes by allocating Rs66 million but only Rs20 million was released for those schemes.