KARACHI: City Mayor Wasim Akhtar on Thursday said that the administrative control of all revenue generating departments, including katchi abadis department, had been taken from the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation under the Sindh Local Government Act, adding to the financial woes of the city municipal administration.

He said that the katchi abadis department was initially established in the KMC for regularising shanty towns and slums in the city, but the Sindh Katchi Abadis Authority had taken control of 50 per cent of the katchi abadis under the Sindh Local Government Act, which was adversely affecting the revenue generation of the municipal administration.

He demanded of the provincial government to immediately hand over the administrative control of the city’s katchi abadis to the KMC’s katchi abadi department so that the financially-constrained municipal utility could generate revenue for its smooth operations.

The mayor was addressing the participants in a ceremony held in katchi abadis head office on the occasion of inauguration of its model office on Thursday.

Chairman of DMC East Moeed Anwer, chairman of katchi abadis committee of the City Council Saad Bin Jaffar, chairman of land committee Arshad Hassan, chairman of works committee Hassan Naqvi, former director of katchi abadis Ghulam Arif, senior director of katchi abadis Sabah-us-Salam and other officers were also present on the occasion.

Earlier after formally inaugurating the model office, the mayor inspected its different sections.

He said that the Sindh Katchi Abadis Authority had the job to notify the katchi abadis in urban areas, but now it had also begun leasing of these areas which was originally the work of KMC katchi abadis department.

He said he would take up the issue with the chief minister as only the municipal administration had capacity and expertise to manage slums in a better way.

The mayor appreciated the performance of KMC katchi abadis department and said that achieving revenue target definitely helped the corporation.

He said the rates for lease and mutation should be reviewed and made appropriate so that revenue recovery could be enhanced.

Chairman of katchi abadis committee Saad Bin Jaffar said the department had worked hard to achieve full target of revenue recovery with no serious litigation.

Later, the mayor gave shields to the officers of katchi abadis department for good performance.

World Bank team meets KDA chief

A delegation of the World Bank met director general of Karachi Development Authority Syed Mansoor Abbas Rizvi here at Civic Centre.

The delegation included Said Dadha, Afzal Zaidi and Abdul Aziz from the Sindh Mass Transit Authority while senior KDA officials, including senior director of traffic and engineering bureau Naveed Izhar and chief engineer Ram Chand were also present on the occasion.

During the meeting they discussed ‘Urban Mobility Project’ funded by the World Bank.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2019