Corruption mars uplift projects in Lyari

KARACHI - Corruption in the use of development funds for Lyari has been reported as the provision of tenders to favourite contractors, coordination gap among civic agencies and poor planning are the bottlenecks on the way to completion of uplift projects in the area, TheNation has learnt. As per detail, despite release of developments funds and other special grants by the President of Pakistan for the development of Lyari to enhance its poor infrastructure, many projects of Federal and Sindh Government are in limbo. Residents of Lyari accused the concerned department and local contractors for misusing the development funds meant for the new water and sewerage lines being laid in the locality under the multi-million Lyari Development Package (LDP) launched by the President. Despite laying new water lines over half portion of Lyari, the inhabitants are still deprived of drinking water as the hydrants suck water through their powerful water sucking machines. The area residents complained that the hydrants owners and the factories functioning in Lyari operate their water sucking machines for twenty-four hours while depriving the people of drinking water. The people said that the drinking water was neither being supplied from the newly installed lines nor through the old lines. On the other side, the residents of the town are still looking for the completion of several projects including supply of drinking water, up-gradation of playgrounds, parks, roads, streets, community halls and other such development projects initiated by LDP, Karachi Water & Sewerage Board (KW&SB) as well as on special development funds of the elected MNA and MPAs from Lyari. On the directives of the President, a huge amount has been released for special development works in Lyari, but the funds are not being utilised in a proper way. Though the residents in general lauded the announcement of the development package for the neglected area, they expressed doubt that this package may not deliver according to the peoples wishes. They said they were surprised that the concerned agencies had failed to complete the development projects which had been launched a long time ago. They expressed suspicions over the use of uplift funds as no tangible results had been achieved, and demanded an investigation into the use of funds. Several NGOs working in Lyari suggested that instead of launching new projects, efforts should be made to upgrade facilities in the existing institutions. They pointed out that Lyari had only one 450-bed government hospital, an extension of the Civil Hospital Karachi, with teaching facilities where not only poor patients from the area but also from the surrounding localities such as trans-Lyari and Hub town received treatment. They maintained there was only one intensive-care unit in the hospital, which too was not functioning so every patients life was at risk. There is an emergency theatre annexed to the casualty section, but it has not seen the light of day since its inception because it does not have technical staff and equipment. As a result, all emergency cases requiring surgeries are referred to the CHK. The annual budget of the hospital is inadequate to meet the needs of the hospital. They also demanded that proper measures be taken by the Government in consultation with public representatives to improve the law and order situation in the area.