KARACHI: Mayor Murtaza Wahab said on Saturday that the city’s infrastructure would see significant improvement by the end of 2026, as more than 1,000 development schemes, including road construction, new underpasses and bridges, drainage upgrades and improvements to the water supply system, are completed.

He shared that the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) alone is investing Rs67 billion in development projects this year. In addition, the Sindh government is separately funding infrastructure schemes through the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) and the Safe City project to strengthen security.

The mayor made these remarks at a press conference at the KMC headquarters, where he provided an overview of the ongoing and planned projects across the city, outlining progress on a wide range of development initiatives currently underway.

“I made the announcement at the beginning of this year that 2026 would be the year of completion of development projects in Karachi and now, work on these projects has begun to fulfil that commitment,” he said.

Over 1,000 uplift schemes to be completed before start of next year

The mayor also shared brief details of several major projects currently underway across the city and responded to questions regarding different bottlenecks being faced by several schemes.

“Karachi is the economic hub of Pakistan but the condition of many commercial centres in the city has deteriorated,” he said. “Therefore, Rs750 million is being spent on the rehabilitation of the Old City Area, where development work is underway around Lee Market, Khajoor Market and Bolton Market, while projects are also in progress behind the City Court,” he shared.

“Rs1bn will also be spent on the improvement of other commercial markets in the city, and development work has begun at the Nursery Furniture Market, which is visited by thousands of people daily. The work will be completed after Eid.”

He referred to construction work on the road from Anklesaria Hospital to NJV School, and improvement of the market under the Qaidabad Flyover, which is also part of the plan. The work, he added, has begun to improve the situation in the Banaras area, while development work is also underway in 24 markets in the municipal area at a cost exceeding one billion rupees.

The KMC is also committed to improving Karachi’s historic heritage, and work is underway on the restoration project of Empress Market. During Ramazan, work is being carried out without disrupting traders’ businesses, he said.

“Due to the poor condition of Hub River Road and Tori Bangash Road, the people there were facing difficulties. So we started development work on Tori Bangash Road at a cost of one billion rupees. It’s our vision to ensure development work across all seven districts of Karachi,” he said.

He said a public park is also being constructed at Gutter Baghicha, while Rs500 million will be spent on the construction of the main road of Gulshan-e-Hadeed Steel Town.

The mayor also said that no new graveyards had been established in the city for decades; therefore, new graveyards will be constructed at a cost of Rs430m.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2026