KARACHI, December 10: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that Karachi is the engine of growth of Pakistan as prosperity of the country is linked with the development of the port city.
Addressing the inaugural ceremony of Green Line Rapid Bus Service project on Friday, the prime minister said that the first step to modernise any city is to improve its transport system but unfortunately no government paid heed to address the transport problem of Karachi in the past. He added the Green Line project will help fulfil modern day transportation requirements of the residents of Karachi.
The prime minister said that since he has been seeing Karachi for the last 50 years, he has also seen this mega city transforming from “a city of lights” to “ruins” due to lack of management support system.
He said that despite sanctions on Iran, its capital Tehran had become a modern and prosperous city with all civic facilities due to modern management systems like any capital of the developed countries including London, Paris and New York. The prime ministeradded that Tehran collects and generates around $500 million per annum in local revenue as against Karachi which might be collecting something around $30 million.
He stressed for an improvement in Karachi’s management system through the directly-elected mayor under a local government system like being introduced in Lahore, Peshawar and other big cities of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said that Karachi needs to be given financial autonomy through this system.
The prime minister expressed his pleasure over the pace of work on other federal government projects in Karachi including the lining of Nullahs, Trade Corridor and K-4 water supply project. He said that the groundbreaking of K-IV water project for Karachi will be performed next month and the project will be completed in the next fourteen to fifteen months. He said through the K-IV project, water will be provided to Karachi from Keenjhar Lake. – TLTP
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