KARACHI, May 28: President Pervez Musharraf has in principle agreed to the idea of setting up a desalination plant of 50-100 mgd capacity in Karachi to meet the growing water needs of the metropolis. This was stated by Dr Farooq Sattar, parliamentary leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement in the National Assembly, while addressing a news conference at the Karachi Press Club on Saturday. He had led a six-member delegation which called on President Musharraf at the Governor’s House earlier in the day.
Dr Sattar said that the federal government may provide Rs250-500 million for the project while the Sindh government would chip in the matching amount. The public-private partnership in the project could not be ruled out, he said.
Dr Sattar, who was accompanied by the MQM’s deputy parliamentary leader in the Sindh Assembly, Kunwar Naveed, said the delegation had also demanded that the work on corridor-I of the Karachi Mass Transit Project should commence by the end of June or early July. He hoped that the ground-breaking ceremony for the project would be held accordingly.
According to Dr Sattar, the question CNICs for the residents of Orangi Town and Majeed Colony was also raised in the meeting and it was decided that the people would soon get the NICs. An amendment to the citizenship law would be made to extend the period of eligibility for the purpose from 1971 to 1986, he added.
As a result of this meeting, he said, ownership papers would be given to the residents of the government quarters in Martin Quarters, Pakistan Quarters, Clayton Road and Jehangir Road in June.
The MQM delegation also discussed with the president the issue of Khokhrapar-Monabao road and rail link. Gen Musharraf said he would ensure that projects in this regard were undertaken at the earliest. He also told the delegation that the Indian high commission would reopen its camp visa office in Karachi very soon to facilitate travel through the new route.
Regarding the seventh wage award for newspaper industry workers, the president was sympathetic to the workers’ problems and had decided to discuss the issue with representatives of workers and newspaper owners before announcing an amicable settlement, Dr Sattar said.
He said the president also appreciated the work on different city development projects being implemented by the Karachi Port Trust.
He also claimed that the president had assured that all the Pakistan Steel workers who had been sacked in 1992 would be reinstated.
DAMAN-I-KOH: The MQM on Saturday accused the city government of sabotaging its plan for revitalizing the dormant water reservoir in North Nazimabad’s ‘T’ block where the city government had planned Daman-i-Koh project.
Briefing newsmen on the location, Kunwar Naveed that the reservoir, built in 1970, supplied water to many blocks of North Nazimabad, but had been closed down after it developed cracks.
He said that the MQM was trying to revitalize the facility at the cost of Rs80.9 million, but the city government bulldozed the scheme by initiating the recreational project under the name of Daman-i-Koh.
