KARACHI - Provincial Minister for Local Bodies Saeed Ghani on Tuesday said that Rs 22.5 billion was earmarked for uplift projects in Karachi, other than the overall allocation of Rs 52.6 billion for the city. “The claim of Mayor Karachi regarding only Rs 1.6 billion allocation for the city was baseless and was aimed at fooling the masses,” he said while addressing a press conference outside the provincial assembly.
He said that Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has once again become B-party of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in fulfilling their vested interests rather than serving masses.
He said that the local government department is already carrying out 107 schemes in the city other than the 77 news schemes under the budget for 2019-20.
“We are committed to resolve water and sewerage issues in the city, with chief minister also taking keen interest in the projects,” he said.
The minister said that the project with the coordination of the World Bank was also in the pipeline that is aimed at improving water and sewerage infrastructure in the city with a cost of $1.5 billion. “This project will drastically improve water and sewerage issues in the city,” he assured.
He said that the Mayor Karachi gave wrong figures from budget only for political point scoring. “This is the sequel of issues created by MQM-P in the city regarding water and sewerage and protest against it,” he said adding that the party has been exposed before the masses and could not further fool people through these tactics.
To query regarding production orders for Asif Zardari and other members of the National Assembly, Ghani said that when a country’s prime minister opposes production orders for the lawmakers against the law and incite its members against opposition then it clearly defines the role of constitution, law, assemblies and democracy before them.