KARACHI, Jan 25: Taking serious note of a large number of warehouses and other structures along both sides of Hawksbay Road, City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal has vowed to develop the Hawksbay beach as one of the most beautiful coastal belts of the world.
During his visit to Hawksbay on Wednesday, he said that the directives had already been issued for providing modern facilities to the people and making this area an exemplary recreational resort.
He was informed that before the start of work for construction of 14km road from Greek Village to Hawksbay at a cost of Rs193 million, the open land lying along both sides of road was occupied and warehouses were built. He was further informed that the traffic of heavy vehicles had also affected the area.
The nazim was told that turning the Hawksbay area into industrial zone would deprive the citizens of recreational spot besides discouraging the domestic and foreign tourists.
Mustafa Kamal vowed to take steps for developing the Hawksbay, Sandspit, Paradise Point and adjoining coastal areas like Clifton beach. He said a master plan was being prepared for the development of beach resorts.
He ordered closure of illegal warehouses and removal of encroachments along both sides of the road and directed EDO Revenue and KBCA chief to examine the maps and permits of construction of these warehouses in three days to ascertain if they had obtained NOCs. In case no NOC was obtained, such warehouses should be sealed and legal action would be initiated, he said.
The nazim said that Hawksbay truck stand was being shifted to a place near Northern Bypass and added that the warehouses might also be shifted there.
He directed the officials concerned to construct a concrete wall along Hawksbay Road from truck stand to save the land from further encroachment and protect the recreational spots.
Mustafa Kamal called for details of huts constructed at the city government land in Hawksbay area and the revenue earned from them.
Later, he inspected the residential area meant for the relocated families of Lyari River.
DIGITAL MAP: City government has asked the Sui Southern Gas Company to prepare a digital map of the installations and underground lines of all utility services for in-process master plan of the metropolis.
City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal, who met SSGC Managing Director Syed Munawwar Baseer here on Wednesday, requested the company to design digital maps for the KESC, KWSB and the PTCL.
“I have come here to request the SSGC to prepare a digital map for us so that we should know where the pipelines and installations of utilities are in the city,” he added
The digital map, to be completed in six to eight months, would be merged with the master plan as its integral part and provide help in planning of future development projects, he said.
The nazim said that the underground lines of utilities were the major hurdles in the way of development projects, causing unnecessary delay and waste of funds. He said the relocation of these pipelines created a lot of problems for the city government and most of the current projects were delayed causing losses of millions of rupees.
“The city is growing very fast and we want to resolve this matter so that no development project is delayed in the future”, he noted.
Mustafa Kamal said that finalization of master plan had been extended by another six to eight months to facilitate the inclusion of digital map, having integrated information about all utility services.
Munawwar Baseer said that his company was more than willing to undertake this responsibility to contribute its share in the service of this city. He said that the SSGC was already in negotiations with the KESC for designing a digital map for the power supply company.—PPI/APP