September 28, 2008	Sunday	Ramazan 27, 1429

KARACHI, Sept 27: Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad inaugurated the Karimabad-Sohrab Goth section of Shahrah-i-Pakistan on Friday night.

The 3.45-kilometre-long dual carriageway has been reconstructed at a cost of Rs518 million. The project was completed in about three years.

The inauguration ceremony, held late on Friday night owing to security reasons, was attended by City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal and other officials.

Talking to reporters at the ceremony, the nazim urged the federal and provincial governments to give the city government its due share. “Karachi deserves to be given its due rights,” he stressed, adding that the cuts in the octroi and zila tax should be done away with immediately so that the city government could complete its development projects within the stipulated time.

He said that despite facing a financial crisis, the city government had completed the dual carriage project by slashing its expenditure. Had the city government waited for the release of funds from the federal and provincial governments, the cost of the project would have increased considering an escalation in the prices of iron, cement and other construction material over the past few months, he added.

The nazim said the city government had established a section in its works and services department and divided it into eight zones for the maintenance of the newly-executed projects.