KARACHI, Jan 15: Karachi Nazim Naimatullah Khan has said that efforts to contain corruption in the city government were bearing fruits as checks on fuel misappropriation alone have led to a monthly saving of Rs7 million.

“We have checked corruption of Rs7 million monthly - or Rs84 million annually - on account of diesel and petrol alone,” he said at a workshop organized by the Urban Resource Centre and the city government’s mass transit department on Tuesday evening.

He pointed out that fuel worth millions of rupees a month used to be utilized on account of such vehicles which were totally non-serviceable.

The workshop on the transport problems of Karachi was attended by representatives of NGOs, intellectuals and prominent citizens.

The City Nazim said that transport system of this city of over 14 million could not be managed with coaches and minibuses and a plan to introduce large-size buses had been chalked out.

He said that for the first time an urban transport scheme had been introduced under which some 5,000 large-size buses would be brought on roads. Import of these buses, he added, had already started.

Naimatullah Khan said that after induction of large-size buses, the existing minibuses and coaches would be removed from roads.

He pointed out that civic conditions in Karachi were such that both the federal and the provincial governments should treat the city like they treated whole Pakistan.

He thanked President Pervez Musharraf for funding some mega projects in Karachi at the federal level, and added that he had also requested Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali to approve another three projects for the city.

He said that for the first time “we have set a tradition of completing uplift schemes on time and executed such transport schemes in 10 months which had been lying in abeyance for the last eight years.” For the first time in this city’s history, construction of a large number of roads has been completed within a short period of one year and work was in progress on more roads and bridges, he added.

He said that during the current fiscal year, an amount of Rs1.5 billion would be spent on road construction. “Work on the Karsaz-Dalmia road is about to start while the Rashid Minhas Road reconstruction project has been completed seven months ahead of schedule.

Naimatullah Khan said that in a short period, ten roads had been taken out of pendency and completed while other projects would also be completed on time.

However, he claimed that no work had been carried out during the last 15 years as a result of which problems in the city had multiplied.

“During my tenure as City Nazim,” he maintained, “the projects on a BOT (build, operate and transfer) basis were also advertised in order to make them transparent.”

He said that the city government’s budget had very carefully been prepared and the targets set would be achieved at all cost.

The director-general of the mass transit programme, Malik Zahirul Islam, said that close-circuit TV cameras and signals were being installed for improving the transport system, while central signal control system was also being introduced.

He informed the audience that renovation work on crossings and roundabouts was being carried out under a well-conceived plan.

MNA Kunwar Khalid Yunus said that the city government had failed to solve people’s problems. He demanded of the city government to solve basic problems of the citizens on a priority basis.

Tasneem Siddiqi said that terminal buildings should be constructed for vehicles’ parking on roads.

Hafiz Mohammed Taqi stressed the need for checking haphazard traffic system.

Shahida Farooq called for paying attention to basic problems along with implementation of mega projects.—APP/PPI