KARACHI, March 15: The city government is facing financial crisis as an amount of Rs 409 million, released under the head of property and betterment taxes by the Sindh government, is not being cleared by the Auditor-General Sindh office.

Well-placed sources told Dawn that although the Sindh government had released a cheque for Rs 409 million to the city government being its share in property tax and betterment charges for a period between June 2001 to December 2001, the office of the Auditor-General, Sindh, had delayed its clearance, causing immense financial problems for the city government as well for the city’s 18 town administrations.

The amount is disbursed among the city’s 18 town administrations under an agreed upon formula.

In a letter addressed to the Auditor-General, Sindh, the City government’s finance department had requested him to expedite the matter of clearance of the cheque.

It was pointed out in the letter that under the new local government system introduced by the present government, the local government institutions have to discharge many obligations and come up to the expectations of their electorates and hence all this needs quick and sufficient flow of funds.

Divulging the details, the city government sources said that since a major portion of the city government’s share from property-cum-betterment taxes is distributed among all the 18 town administrations of the metropolis, the inordinate delay in the clearance of the cheque by the office of the A-G would not only create difficulties for the towns but would also hit their development projects.

The sources apprehended that any further delay would also jeopardize some vital projects of the city government, as well.