Mayor says financial constraints making completion of development projects hard

The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) is facing difficulties in preparing its budget for the upcoming fiscal year as the Sindh government has curtailed Rs1.6 billion in the district development programme besides not releasing the funds for the fourth quarter of the outgoing year as yet, said a statement issued on Wednesday.

Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar discussed the problems the KMC has been facing in preparing its budget as he presided over a meeting to review the proposals for the next budget in the committee room of the KMC head office.

The development projects in Karachi would suffer badly in the given situation, the mayor said. He added that the KMC needed to further curtail its non-development expenditures.

Akhtar directed all the departmental heads to pay their electricity bills on time as in case of disconnection, they would be held responsible. The electricity bill for the Landhi Slaughter House would be paid by the contractor under the agreement, he said. He also issued directives for the installation of separate sub-meters for each sub-department.

The mayor called for all the departments to utilise their resources in an efficient manner as the financial condition of the KMC was not good. He said henceforth, the KMC would not pay the electricity bills of any of its residential facility and separate electric meters would be installed for every apartment or residential facility.

He said 135 projects could not be finished this financial year as the Sindh government did not release funds for the fourth quarter of the outgoing fiscal year. It had become hard to complete the ongoing schemes, he remarked.

He asked the provincial government to think over its action as it was hindering the development of Karachi and ultimately leading to loss of the province and the country. He said priority should be given to the most urgent works. He also issued directives to improve the conditions of KMC hospitals.