The repair work of 22 buildings between Light House and Boulton Market, affected by arson after bomb blast on December 28, will start from Sunday. On the request of City Nazim Mustafa Kamal, the contractors of Water and Sewerage Board and City Government have announced to repair the 285 shops of Boulton Market immediately.
This was announced by the contractors after a meeting with the affected traders at Boulton Market, M A Jinnah Road on Saturday. Addressing the gathering, Kamal said that national flags would immediately be hoisted on all affected buildings. "From today, all development work will stop and only rehabilitation of affectees will be carried out" he announced.
He said the 285 buildings of Boulton Market would be completed by the contractors of Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB), while the rehabilitation of remaining affected buildings would be done by the contractors of City District Government Karachi (CDGK).
He announced that repair of affected buildings would be completed, not in months but, in weeks and all affectees would be rehabilitated at their original shops so that they could restart their business. He said that putting an important centre of economy and destroying it "is not a new thing for us because we had guessed that enemy would attack Karachi which is the hub of national economy. But we would not surrender before the enemy".
Kamal said that the affetees' business in billions of their life long savings had been burnt to ashes within a few hours. "Now, for their rehabilitation, we have chalked out priorities. The first is repair or reconstruction of their shops. And for this we would request the CDGK and KWSB contractors to give sacrifice for the country and this city," he added.
He said that for this very purpose, the contractors and others were invited to come to the site and see for themselves the excesses done to the economy as the most important trade centre had been burnt to ashes. "We have to work on war footing; start work from morning for rehabilitation of affectees, in order to face this excess, he said, adding that though it was a national task and need, but the city government would also contribute its share.
On the occasion, the contractors announced that they would say "Labbaik" (yes) to the appeal of Nazim for early rehabilitation of affectees and would start work from Sunday morning.
Kamal also appealed to managements of all private schools to waive six months' fee of children of affected traders studying in their schools. In case of failure, the city government would pay the fee by its own, he added. Later, City Nazim also formed a monitoring committee, comprising of Rasheed Mughal, Executive District Officer (EDO) Works and Services, Masood Alam, EDO Municipal Services, Qutbuddin Shiekh, Managing Director, KWSB, which would decide the procedure for repair and reconstruction of damaged buildings.
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