KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the Sindh government with the assistance of the World Bank has initiated the Karachi Neighbourhood Improvement Project (KNIP) to improve public spaces in the city’s selected neighbourhoods and strengthen the city government’s capacity to provide certain administrative services such as business registration and construction permits.

The chief minister was talking to the media during his visit to the National Museum and Secretariat, where educational and cultural zones were being constructed, including underground parking area for 400 vehicles.

He said the project, on which work began on March 12, 2018, is scheduled to be completed by July 31 this year with an investment of $98 million agreement with the World Bank signed on June 15, 2017. According to the agreement, $86m would be financed through the WB while $12m by the Sindh government.

He said under the sub-projects in the Saddar neighbourhood under KNIP, the educational and cultural zones were being implemented. The sub-project area comprises rehabilitation of three roads that form a triangle, upgrade of pavements, upgrade of infrastructure/burying major utility network of Dr Ziauddin Road (from Shaheen Complex to Pakistan Chowk) Deen Mohammad Wafai Road (from the Arts Council roundabout to Pakistan Chowk) and construction of sub-surface car parking space and students space/plaza on Shahrah-i-Kamal Ataturk.

Project is due to be completed by July 31

Its salient features include the ‘Re-Development of Culture and Education Area in Saddar Downtown’, costing Rs1,671m. The sub-project comprises public space in the form of students’ plaza on Shahrah-i-Kamal Ataturk, two-level parking facility for 400 vehicles, rehabilitation of 2.5km roads, pavements on both sides, including upgrade of utilities. It includes external surface improvement works at the Arts Council.

Earlier on the site, project director Nazir Issani briefed the chief minister on the work in progress, saying that 35 per cent work in the parking facility had been completed.

Home secretary Kazi Kabir, who is monitoring the execution of the project, said that 70pc utilities network of PTCL, K-Electric, NTC, SSGC on all three roads had been completed and overhead wires’ network had been buried underground.

Child cancer care centres

The chief minister also paid a visit to the Child Cancer Care Centre, in connection with International Childhood Cancer Awareness Day being observed all over the world.

This centre was set up by the Child Aid Society. Talking to the society’s office-bearers led by its president Tariq Shafi, the chief minister said that after establishing NICVD satellites in different districts, now he wanted to establish satellites at Sukkur and Hyderabad so that poor patients could reach the facilities easily.

He asked the NGO’s team to prepare a plan, including space for hospital, required equipment with their cost and annual operational expenditures so that the plan could be implemented.

Earlier, the team told the chief minister about the performance of their centre since 1999 and said it was a three-year treatment course, but there was a seven per cent dropout ratio as poor parents leave the treatment of their children incomplete for want of travel expenditures.

They said that the organisation was facing a shortage of funds to run the centre as the treatment of a child took more than Rs900,000 for the three-year course.

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2019