KARACHI, Dec 14: The deadline for the submission of recommendations on the Karachi Strategic Development Plan 2020 expired at 12 noon on Friday without a single suggestion from the city councillors.

According to DO City Council Ghufran, not a single recommendation/suggestion was submitted in his office by any member of the council.

Opposition members in the City Council have refused to make any suggestions as according to them the documents regarding the plan are incomplete; therefore, the implementation of the plan is questionable.

Leader of the Al-Khidmat panel, Rafique Ahmed, said that the council members were not provided with the complete document of the KSDP-2020. He also complained of shortage of time to study the plan which was a must to come up with recommendations.

“The terms of reference and a copy of the agreement with the consultant for the preparation of the KSDP have not been provided to us,” he said.

However, Mr Ahmed clarified that the opposition members of the City Council had no problem with the idea of a master plan for the city. “The opposition was unanimous in its demand to have a thorough and interactive discussion with experts in the City Council,” he said. He urged the treasury benches not to take any decision regarding the KSDP-2020 in haste.

Leader of the ruling Haq Parast panel in the City Council, Mohammad Asif Siddiqui, said that the opposition members should have submitted written suggestions while further recommendations could have been submitted even after the approval of the plan.

When asked about the chances of the approval of the KSDP in Saturday’s session, he said that it depended to a large extent on the moods of the council members.

He, however, said that they wanted a consensus on the matter.—PPI