KARACHI, Oct 4: The Nazim of Karachi Naimatullah Khan said here on Saturday the Sindh Kachchi Abadi Authority (SKAA) would be devolved to the city district government in a week.

Speaking of his meeting with Sindh’s Chief Minister Sardar Ali Mohammad Mahar, he told newsmen that the final decision concerning SKAA’s devolution would be taken by the committee headed by adviser to the CM on local government affairs, Wasim Akhtar. The city nazim and additional chief secretary local government department — M. Salim Khan — are members of this committee.

Describing the details of the meeting, attended also by the Naib Nazim Tariq Hassan Khan, Mr Khan said the chief minister had decided to devolve the SKAA after he was informed that the city government was unable to undertake development work in the kachchi abadis as two different organizations — the SKAA and CDGK’s kachchi abadi department — looked after their affairs.

“In fact, it is useless to talk about the kachchi abadis unless the SKAA is devolved to the CDGK,” he said, adding that a survey of kachchi aba-

dis on town level was required after which plans to develop these areas could be prepared.Claiming that the city’s population growth rate stood at six per cent, he said: “All those migrating to the city for their livelihood are Pakistanis and as such no one should, and can, stop them from coming here. Yet proper planning to accommodate them is required”.

Meanwhile, the inordinate delay in taking a decision regarding the SKAA’s devolution has become a bone of contention between the provincial and city governments. The other issues which have been transformed into a tug-of-war relate to the delay in the complete devolution of the KWSB and KBCA.

The mistakes made in the devolution of the KBCA to the CDGK relate to the powers of the authority’s chief executive which have not yet been delegated to the city nazim.

Similarly, the KWSB despite its devolution to the CDGK through a notification, is almost working independently. At present only two executive engineers of the KWSB — one for water and the other for sewerage — are posted at the city’s 18 town administrations.

According to sources, complete devolution of the KWSB is not possible unless the KWSB Act is repealed or amended by the Sindh Assembly.

HONORARIA: The nazim also announced that the Sindh government had agreed to pay Rs7000 per month as honoraria to all the members of the City Council.