March 8, 2002	Friday	Zilhaj 23, 1422

KARACHI, March 7: The city government has signed a 200 million dollars memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a consortium of 50 overseas Pakistanis based in Saudi Arabia who would invest mainly in transport, water and sewerage services in the city.

Speaking at a press conference, Nazim Naimatullah Khan said: “We hope to generate employment for at least 40,000 people through this investment”.

The consortium has identified four areas for investment which included waste water treatment and recycling plant, transportation, metro-rail service and fast-food restaurants.

Referring to his recent visit to Saudi Arabia, the Nazim said that he had successful negotiations with the overseas Pakistanis and the well-known Dallah Group of Saudi Arabia.

A delegation of Dallah Group and that of overseas Pakistanis is expected to visit Karachi very soon.

“I hope to initiate and complete the process of investment by these people during my tenure,” he said and added that a businessman Rana Abdul Rauf had been nominated as convener in Saudi Arabia for the purpose.

Naimatullah Khan said he met Abdul Jabbar Moosa, who runs the transport affairs of the Dallah Group.

The group had expressed its keen interest to invest and improve transport services in Karachi.

He said the city government had been running its affairs successfully since its takeover six months back.

“Our priority areas to serve Karachi include transport, sanitation and sewerage, health, education and entertainment facility,” he said, and added work had been initiated in all these projects.

He said supply of water to the citizens was one of the major issues being faced by the city government and hoped that this problem would be solved very soon.

He said desilting of sewerage lines had also been started and in the first phase, areas of Landhi and Korangi had been selected.

The provincial and federal government have been apprised of the financial constraints being faced by the city government and “we hope financial package will be given to us very soon to solve water and sewerage problem.”

The city Nazim said all the projects were being initiated in a transparent manner and open tenders were being invited. In addition to this, projects were being executed on Built-Own-Operate and Built-Own-Transfer basis, he added.

He said it was an open MOU and the City Government would not get involved in investors’ choice.

Referring to additional foreign investment, he said international investment companies based in various Muslim countries have been approached. These investors include Abrar Group of Malaysia, Islamic Bank of Bangladesh, Alla-Wada Establishment of Saudi Arabia, Bin Laden Group of Saudi Arabia, Islamic Development Bank of Saudi Arabia, Al- Baraka International Investors of Kuwait, Islamic Bank of Jordan, Syarikat Takaful of Indonesia, Musiad group of Turkey and Arab Banking Corporation of Bahrain.

The city Nazim said special attention would also be given to development of coastal area.