KARACHI, July 20: Former city nazim Niamatullah Khan on Wednesday termed formal sanction of city government’s budget for the fiscal year 2005-06 by the Sindh government encouraging. In a statement issued here, the former nazim observed that city district government Karachi’s had been saved from a big financial and administrative crisis by the formal approval of budget by the Sindh government, saying it will also result in continuation of uplift projects.

He said that the city government’s budget of Rs43 billion presented in the city council on June 28 was prepared by hectic efforts of city council members and CDGK officials. Views were also sought from experts for preparation of the budget, he added.

However, he added, Sindh Local Government Adviser Waseem Akhtar had made a blunder by terming approval of CDGK’s budget by city council as illegal, on which NRB Chairman Danyal Aziz had taken serious notice and issued a policy statement that CDGK’s budget was legal and there should be no hurdle in its approval.

Niamatullah Khan expressed gratitude to all former members of city council, officials who took part in the budget preparation, NRB chairman Danyal Aziz and Sindh Finance Minister Syed Sardar Ahmed on approval of CDGK’s budget by the provincial government.

He asked the caretaker of city government to ensure quick implementation on development projects approved in the budget especially those in health and education sectors. He also advised the caretaker to keep control on non-developmental expenditures to the possible extent and pay full attention on achieving the revenue target. —PPI