KARACHI, July 13: Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad has asked both the city government and the Sindh Katchi Abadis Authority (SKAA) to select one katchi abadi each and develop them into model localities with all the basic amenities.

The two localities would then serve as pilot projects on the basis of which all the existing katchi abadis would be upgraded. He issued these directives while chairing a meeting held at the Governor’s House on Friday to review the condition of katchi abadis in the province.

Dr Ibad said that keeping in view the ongoing uplift activities in the province and launch of planned housing schemes in the city, it would be inappropriate to keep residents of these localities deprived of basic civic amenities.

On the occasion, different models of katchi abadis were also presented to the governor. The meeting was informed that there were 1,293 katchi abadis spread over 25,409 acres in the province where there are 0.571 million residential units with a total population of 3.636 million people.

In Karachi alone there are 539 katchi abadis, while 331 in Hyderabad, 141 in Mirpurkhas, 170 in Sukkur and 112 in Larkana.