KARACHI: Caretaker Sindh Chief Minister retired Justice Maqbool Baqar was informed on Thursday that the property tax survey in Karachi would be started in March 2024 with the assistance of the World Bank.

A 12-member World Bank delegation led by its country director Najy Benhassine called on the CM to discuss WB-assisted programmes in the province..

Discussing the Competitive and Livable City of Karachi (Click) project, the meeting participants were told that the property tax survey was delayed in the city but it would now be launched by the next year .

The meeting was informed that the procurement of the satellite imagery data and development of the software required for the property tax survey would be completed in March and the mega exercise would began afterwards.

WB released $947m for 13 projects in Sindh, meeting told

Another project that came under discussion was the Karachi Mobility Project under which the Jam Sadiq Bridge would be constructed. The meeting was told that financial proposals were under evaluation.

The procurement notice for the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Yellow Line has already been advertised and proposals will be received by Nov 15.

The meeting participants decided to complete the design and bidding document for 10km long corridor of BRT Yellow Line by the next month.

The CM was assisted by Sindh ministers Ishwar Lal, Omar Soomro, Rana Hussain, chief secretary Dr Fakhre Alam, principal secretary to chief minister Hassan Naqvi, chairman of P&D Shakeel Ahmed Mangnejo, secretary of local govt Manzoor Shaikh, and other officers concerned.

The P&D chairman briefed the World Bank team about the progress and issues of ongoing projects in the province.

There are 13 major World Bank-sponsored projects of $3,218.3 million in progress in Sindh against which so far 29 per cent or $947.8 million has been released.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2023