KARACHI, Nov 14: The city district government of Karachi has set up a district-town coordination committee as part of the Mega City Development Project.

This was stated at a high-level meeting, chaired by City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal. The meeting, among others, was attended by the town nazims and municipal officers.

The coordination committee will have all the town nazims and TMOs as its members. In addition to the launch of Rs4 billion worth projects, the committee will give suggestions for uniform development process in all areas of the city.

Mustafa Kamal said that the priorities set for the mega city project would have its enforcement in the entire city and development projects would be launched in such a manner that Karachi would soon join the ranks of world’s modern and developed cities.

The nazim pointed out that it was a US$400 million project earlier but the ADB raised the amount to US$800 million after he met the bank authorities and they were briefed on the Master Plan. He said that the amount was expected to increase further. He said that it had been decided to widen its scope and make it a regional plan.

Mustafa Kamal said that the ADB’s Local Support Unit of Karachi Mega City Project had started study at a cost of US$13 million.

He said that the study had been divided into three parts: development of skeleton of various institutions, imparting maximum training to human resource and development of Karachi’s planning, management, finance, urban infrastructure and services.

Initially, the study is being done in respect of development of forests, trees, plants, parks and greenery in Karachi at a cost of Rs10 million.

Besides, Rs34 million will be spent on study for mass transit network and public transport, particularly emission-free comfortable transport, Rs40 million on study for developing Karachi Master Plan to regional level, Rs30 million for study on Geographical Information System of Karachi and Rs54 million on study of KWSB projects.

It will include Rs10 million on study for uniform distribution of water, Rs9 million on IT platform for repair and maintenance of system, Rs15 million on upgrading water supply and sewerage infrastructure in the entire city’s jurisdiction and Rs200 million on planning for water recycling for use in industrial and construction fields.—APP