KARACHI, Sept 27: The areas falling in the former districts south and west of the city are continuing to face numerous civic problems apparently for want of adequate funds and due attention of the government agencies concerned, a recent survey shows.

The areas now form four towns — Saddar, Keamari, Lyari and Site — under the present devolution system. The main aim of switching over to the new system was to ensure provision of all basic facilities to citizens at grass-root level and thus bringing about an improvement in the quality of their life.

The survey, however, shows that the desired results have not been achieved so far. Apart from financial constraints, a lack of effective coordination among the civic agencies appeared to have been a key factor in the failure.

The failure is evident from the ground reality that most of the localities of these towns continue experience a chronic shortage of water and suffer due to a neglected sewerage system. These problems have often been leading to street protests, sometimes even agitation.

People and community leaders of the towns have always been blaming the defective water distribution and sewerage system for the extremely unhygienic conditions prevailing elsewhere in countless localities of the towns, more specifically Lyari and Keamari.

Nearly 350 tons of waste and garbage is generated every day in each f the four towns but the municipal administrations concerned fail to lift and dispose of the same properly and efficiently, citing inadequate resources.

A social worker, criticising the civic and development agencies for their incapability and lack of planning, said: “The fault is partly ours as we have failed to produce a competent leadership that could address these issues effectively. We tend to elect the same failed people on the basis of their political affiliation.”

He severely criticised the municipal administrations’ indifference towards the potential threat to public health from the unhygienic conditions that often result in the outbreak of gastroenteritis and other such diseases.Another NGO activist remarked that the recent monsoon rains had fully exposed the water and sewerage system’s strength when flooding caused widespread damage to property in the towns and badly affected the civic infrastructure.

It was observed that covered drains were not being cleaned up regularly as the space above the drains remained encroached upon by the people having their shops, workshops set up all along them.

A civil engineer expressed the view that the situation could not improve unless a single agency was assigned the task of keeping all storm-water drains clean and clear round the year.