KARACHI: Water board, KESC told to expedite uplift work: Hawkesbay scheme
KARACHI, Sept 11: Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad on Saturday issued directive for an immediate review of the requirements of electricity, drinking water, gas and other facilities for Hawkesbay scheme.
Work be started immediately to make availability of the facilities possible, he told the concerned officials at a meeting held on Saturday at the Governor's House.
He also directed them that provision of water to the scheme be included in the K-3 project, under which an additional 100 million gallon per day water is to be supplied to Karachi. He called for the allocation of a plot to KESC for the construction of a grid station for the area.
Dr Ibad expressed his displeasure over holding the scheme in abeyance for years now, and said he would personally monitor progress of the scheme to ensure that construction and housing activities there took off.
The meeting was attended by Adviser to the CM on Local Government Waseem Akhtar, Chief Secretary Aslam Sanjrani, Principal Secretary to the Governor Brig Akhtar Zamin, Additional Chief Sercetaries Ghulam Sarwar Khero and Mohammed Saleem Khan, Finance Secretary Malik Israr, DCO Mir Hussain Ali, Project Director Lyari Expressway Settlement Scheme Shafiqur Rehman Paracha and senior officials of the KESC, Suparco and other concerned departments.
The governor asked the Water Board officials to establish a desalination plant for the area.
Responding to his directives, the finance secretary and city government officials held out the assurance that the required funds would be released as per the laid down timeframe so that the Hawkesbay scheme was made functional.
Dr Ibad called for immediate work on horticulture development in the area from next week and also on the alternate route to link the project site with other city areas.
He emphasized the need for the establishment of a system for garbage disposal right from the beginning.
He asked the Board of Revenue to make sure that no plot in residential areas was allotted for industrial purpose.
"The city government and other concerned authorities must check strictly any violation of the Master Plan and Land Use regulations," he stressed, making it clear that disfiguring the city and polluting its environment was a criminal act and criminals should be taken to task.
Earlier, Mr Paracha gave a detailed review of the Hawkesbay scheme. The meeting took a number of decisions with regard to the provision of modern residential facilities at the scheme.
The Board of Revenue, Mr Paracha said, had handed over to the project 7,465 acres of land out of the 11,450 acres earmarked for the scheme.
He pointed out that the Beach Avenue Project and Karachi Press Club Society were part of the Hawkesbay scheme.
With regard to the complaint about encroachment of certain portions of the land, the governor directed the concerned city government officials to remove the same on a priority basis without accepting any pressure or favour.
The project director informed the meeting that the scheme consisted a total of 71 sectors out of which balloting for 42,608 plots in 26 sectors had been conducted. These included 33,000 plots of 80 and 120 square yards meant for allotment under low-cost housing plan.
He told the meeting that development work in different sectors had commenced and it would be accelerated upon receipt of funds from the provincial and city governments. A programme had been chalked out to hand over physical possession of the plots to their allottees, he added.
Giving details of the four-phase programme, Mr Paracha said that possession of 10,042 plots in sectors 11, 12, 27, 28 and 31 would be given during the first phase over the next 8-12 weeks.
In the second phase, 7,310 plots would be allotted in sectors 47, 48, 59 and 60 over 16-20 weeks; 12,296 plots over a period of 32-36 weeks in sectors 20, 21, 23, 26 and 28-A in the third phase; and 9,230 plots within 52-56 weeks in sectors 16, 17, 30, 32, 34, 35, 46 and 49 in the fourth phase.
About the ongoing work, Mr Paracha told the meeting that survey, demarcation and approach road in the first phase sectors had been completed whereas work on surface dressed roads was in progress.
He also briefed the meeting about repair and improvement of the main Hawkesbay road. The work, he said, had been started on June 17 this year and was scheduled to be completed by June 16, 2006.
A plan has been chalked out for the Hawkesbay link road as an alternate route from the Northern Bypass and RCD Highway, he said, adding that the four-km road would cost Rs94 million.-APP
