KARACHI, May 11: Sindh Local Government Adviser Wasim Akhtar told a delegation of World Bank on Wednesday that the government was paying equal attention to development in all areas of the city. Nadar Abbas, Rehan Arshad and Zahid Hussain of the World Bank are currently on a visit to prepare feasibility report on rural development with special emphasis on water supply and sewerage projects in the province.

“In view of the importance of Karachi, special attention is being paid to water supply and sewerage so that people living in this international city could get improved facilities,” Wasim Akhtar told the delegation.

Giving a detailed briefing on performance and results achieved since the introduction of local bodies system, the adviser told the delegation that local bodies system was fully implemented in the province. The process of powers being delegated to grassroots level was carried out so that public problems could be solved immediately.

However, Wasim Akhtar pointed out that in some rural areas problems were being faced where feudal lords had become nazims. Such nazims had not delegated powers to grassroots level, he said, adding that as a whole the system is functioning successfully.

In Jacobabad and Mirpurkhas, he said, projects of water supply costing Rs459 million and Rs300 million respectively were being swiftly implemented. The public health engineering department was extending maximum cooperation to local bodies system on these water supply schemes, he added.

“Work is in full swing on implementation of Tameer Karachi Programme and Hyderabad Development Package,” he told the WB delegation.

The adviser referred to the reports about presence of arsenic in the waters of Sindh and Punjab and said that the ratio was continuously increasing. He said there was a possibility that the situation might take a serious turn in the next 10 years.

He stressed need to solve this problem at provincial level and pointed out that the Unicef was working in this regard on war footings in Bangladesh.

In the meeting, it was decided that the water supply projects at district and tehsil level should be carried out under the supervision of public health engineering department.

The delegation thanked Wasim Akhtar for his cooperation in providing the information.

Additional Secretary Local Government Ghulam Arif Khan and KWSB Managing Director Brig Iftikhar Haider also attended the meeting. —APP