KARACHI, Feb 3: The city will get eight air-conditioned libraries, and plots for the purpose have already been identified in different areas.
City Nazim Naimatullah Khan said this while speaking as chief guest at the inauguration of the Book Fair-2005, held under the aegis of the Study Aid Project of Karachi University on Thursday.
He said the city government would also provide one more bus to Karachi University to facilitate transportation of students. He also announced that the road from Jail chowrangi to Safoora Goth would be constructed according to international standard, adding that after its construction, lights would also be installed there.
Mr Khan further said a women's library complex was under construction at the University Road. He pointed out that after creation of Pakistan, there were only four libraries in Karachi, and the number was not increased despite opening of thousands of new educational institutions and growth in population.
He described resource constraint as one of the hurdles in the way of construction of new libraries. The city nazim was of the view that despite presence of internet and cable, the interest in book reading would not diminish.
In the West, he observed, despite IT boom, there was a lot of interest in book reading. The ceremony was also addressed by Karachi University Registrar Prof Sikandar Mehdi, Prof Shafiqur Rehman, Dr Junaid Siddiqi, Prof Rais Ahmed, Prof Rafiq Alam, Project In charge Tausif Ahmed, Wajahat Mushtaq and others. Later, Mr Khan visited the stalls set up at the fair by various organizations and publishers. The fair will continue till Friday. -APP
