KARACHI, Jan 1: The people of Karachi hope that during the year 2003 some of the problems of the city would get due attention of the authorities concerned. Many of these problems have been crying for solution since long.

These problems include increasing water shortage, the revival of Karachi Circular Railway to improve the public transport system, building and development of parks and recreation spots, indoor sports complexes for the youth and completion of the Aiwan-i-Riffat to promote art and culture in the city.

Since the late 1990’s successive governments, both elected governments and military regimes, have been assuring the Karachiites that these problems and issues would be resolved, but so far the problems continue to remain unattended.

Those in charge of city affairs appear to have mastered the art of evasion as is evident from the fact that so many problems having important bearing on the life of the common man continue to remain unsolved. Even an all-powerful chief executive like Gen Pervez Musharraf failed to move them during his three years’ rule as chief executive of the country. The KCR has not been revived despite his orders.

The operation of the KCR was suspended on December 15, 1999. On the instructions of President Pervez Musharraf a cabinet sub-committee was formed to give proposals on the revival of the KCR operation. A feasibility report was prepared by a firm, Engineering Consultants International, to revitalize the KCR service, but the revival of KCR continues to be a dream. Commuters’ problems continue to be multiplied. The prevalence of only one mode of communication, that is, road transport is adding to the congestion of traffic on the roads of this megacity. This is also resulting in an ever-increasing number of road accidents. On an average road accidents claim 100 precious lives every year in the megacity. Most accidents are caused by reckless driving.

This alarming situation calls for immediate revival of the KCR. Experts, and even laymen, are of the view that the roads in the megacity now cannot bear any additional burden of buses. They say in megacities all over the world underground or surface railway system supplements road transport.

Experience has proved this is the best way to solve the problem of mass transit in big cities.

To improve the KCR service, more than Rs3 billion were spent on the construction of flyovers over the KCR tracks, but unfortunately when these flyovers were completed, the project was abandoned.

This is not the only project to have been abandoned to benefit the transport mafia in the city. The Mohammedi Tramway Service had been closed down in the early 1970s.

Several other projects meant to provide recreational facilities to the public have also suffered badly. Many such projects were there before 1947.

There were three well-maintained parks/gardens Frere Garden, Burnes Garden and Gandhi Garden when Pakistan came into being. These are the only public parks which continue to be well maintained. However, in the past 55 years no other recreational park has been built in the city.

A central park that was planned to be built on the old Sabzimandi land on University Road and the Gutter Baghicha park in Pak Colony have, so far, been on paper only. Even the new city government has failed to make any progress towards converting the old Sabzimandi and Gutter Baghicha into parks.

Work on the construction of an Indoor Sports Complex at the junction of Garden Road and M. A. Jinnah Road had begun in the early 1970s. Later, it was abandoned for unknown reasons. Since then, its incomplete structure has been waiting to be completed.

Likewise, an auditorium was planned at Aiwan-i-Riffat in Burnes Garden. The project remains incomplete though millions of rupees have been spent on it.

Addressing a referendum rally in the city in April, President Musharraf had announced that the Aiwan-i-Riffat Auditorium would be completed soon and the federal government would provide the required funds.

But now the Aiwan Riffat houses the offices of the EDO Culture and sports of the city government and its open space is being used for parking vehicles under the charged-parking system.

It is not known where the art treasures donated by Begum Attia Faizi and Faizi Rahmeen have been kept.

There is the incomplete Hyatt Regency hotel in the vicinity of five-star hotels.

The incomplete building structure, located in the business district of the city, is visible from as far as Jinnah Bridge and the State Guest House. President Musharraf had asked the organizations concerned to get the project moving by writing off its mark-up amount, but the president’s instructions remain unheeded.

The water shortage problem in the city has been deteriorating by the day. The megacity has no independent source of potable water. It has to depend either on the River Indus or the Hub dam for its needs of potable water. The Hub dam has dried up. There has been no water in the dam for the past five year. In the River Indus too there is a shortage of water.

This situation has made the setting up of desalination plants necessary. In the past 15 years a number of plans have been prepared for the establishment of desalination plants, but so far nothing concrete has materialized towards this end.