Ghani asks mayor to prove KMC spent Rs4bn on development

Sindh Information Minister Saeed Ghani has asked Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar to prove the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s (KMC) claim that it has spent Rs4 billion out of its own district annual development programme (ADP) funds on development works in the city in the past four years.

Ghani told The News on Sunday that the mayor has threatened to go to court to demand justice because the provincial government is allegedly not providing the KMC its due share or adequate funds for carrying out development works in the city.

The minister claimed that the provincial government has more than 50 development works to show that it has completed in the past four years through the funds of Sindh’s ADP.

He also claimed that the provincial government provides Rs804 million a month to the KMC. He said that Sindh’s administration is forced to make deductions when funds from the local collection and the federal government decrease.

Ghani said the KMC is provided with Rs300 million a month and the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) with Rs200 million a month to disburse salaries. When the KDA was under the KMC, they were provided with Rs500 million under the head of salaries, he added.

He said the KMC can go to court if it wants, adding that the provincial government will face it there. When asked about the mayor’s tenure, the minister said that it will probably end in August, adding that the government will announce it when it happens.