KARACHI, July 12: The hope that was generated among the people by the coming into being of the city government about one year ago in Karachi, is fast giving way to disappointment because of the deteriorating civic facilities.
The people see a wide gap between promises and reality.
The city Nazim has visited several foreign countries ostensibly for bringing in foreign investment to help develop the port city, but nothing concrete has so far materialized as there has been no change in the lot of the people.
While the city government came under criticism during the first 2-3 months of its existence for failing to deliver anything substantiative, the city Nazim, Naib Nazim and DCO took the plea that such a short time was insufficient to judge and evaluate their performance. They said they needed at least one year to prove their worth and to come up to the expectations of the people.
Now the city government is about to complete a year, but transport and other facilities have worsened in this period.
Recently, the city Nazim claimed that the city government had spent more than Rs1 billion on repairs and maintenance of roads, but when he was asked to point out the roads where this huge amount was spent, he failed to give a clear answer.
Contrary to the claims of the city Nazim, most roads in the city are unmotorable due to big potholes on them caused by lack of maintenance and poor drainage system and the movement of heavy vehicles, especially water tankers.
There is hardly a road in Karachi that could be described as a model road where one could drive or travel with ease without experiencing jerks. Recently, the North Nazimabad Town administration carried out repair and carpeting of a road from the Water Pump roundabout to Hyderi Market. However, a large portion of the road has been left incomplete.
Similarly, work on the reconstruction/repair of two major roads, Sharea Ibn Sina from the Nazimabad flyover up to Liaquatabad No 10 and Nishtar Road from Lasbela bridge up to Tin Hatti bridge, is moving at a snail’s pace. Due to the slow pace of work traffic jams on these roads and on nearby roads have become a routine matter.
Tin Hatti bridge remains closed to heavy vehicles for the past several weeks after it was damaged in a fire. This is causing a lot of trouble to the people.
Recently the city Nazim, before his visit to the USA, had claimed that MoU worth billions of rupees had been signed, mainly in the transport sector, as a result of his visit to the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, China, etc.
This remains to be seen how the city government is going to tackle the transport mafia which has strong connections in the government. All along the transport mafia has failed steps aimed at bringing about improvement in the mass transit system in the city.
The bomb blasts outside a hotel and in front of the US consulate have proved a blessing in disguise for police and other law-enforcement agencies, as they extort motorists, including those ravelling by motorcycles, under the pretext of vehicle checking. People say the city government should have acted to save them from extortion and harassment, but unfortunately it has done nothing in this regard.
A similar situation exists as regards water supply and sewerage system.
However, the people expect the city government to deliver the goods as they are optimistic about the success of the system of local government.— PPI
