President General Pervez Musharraf has said that if the present pace of progress of Tameer-e-Karachi Programme is sustained the overall look of Karachi will present a radical change.
The president made this observation, while chairing a high-level briefing about the progress regarding Rs 29 billion Tameer-e-Karachi Programme at the Governor House here on Friday, which reviewed the programme in detail.
Karachi Nazim Naimatullah Khan briefed the president on the programme. Among others Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad, Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, Corps Commander Lieutenant General Ahsan Saleem Hayat, EPB Chairman Tariq Ikram, KPT Chairman Vice Admiral Ahmed Hayat, Adviser to Chief Minister for Local Government Waseem Akhtar and high officials of federal and provincial governments were present on the occasion.
Reviewing the projects, the president said that if the progress is sustained at the present pace, the overall look of Karachi would witness a radical change.
The president particularly emphasised upon early rehabilitation of various industrial areas of Karachi like Korangi, Landhi, F.B. Area and North Karachi, and said it is a prerequisite for fast industrial development and quality exports.
He underlined the need to set up treatment plants for effective and proper disposal of industrial waste.
President Musharraf said no doubt there are problems like water and electricity faced by Karachiites, but with the continuity of this programme and passage of time, such problems would be overcome.
He appreciated the Karachi Port Trust, Export Processing Zone Authority, Pakistan Steel Mills, PIA, EPB, State Bank, oil/multinational companies and Civil Aviation for their role and support in the Tameer-e-Karachi programme by way of financial and technical co-operation in the execution of their assigned development projects.
The president directed the National Highway Authority to assess the cost of construction of road up to Steel Mills and the road linking National Highway with Super Highway.
He said that work on rehabilitation of roads, which is part of the package, should be geared up.
Naimatullah Khan said that work on road rehabilitation was already in hand.
The president was informed that work on Rs 900 million University Road by PIA is in progress and the same is being designed by the consultant.
He said that consultancy awarded for designing of Shahrah-e-Ghalib costs Rs 320 million.
The president noted with appreciation that all the stakeholders were working on the package in co-ordination with each other and the City District Government Karachi, which is a very positive sign and worth emulation by other cities.
On the occasion, Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad apprised the president about the progress made in respect of low-cost housing schemes in Karachi as was directed by the president earlier.
He said that in Karachi Rs 100 million would be spent on these schemes.
The president directed that in view of growing traffic problems in the city, Karachi Circular Railway must be reactivated apart from Karachi Mass Transit programme.
He directed Sindh government and City District government to co-ordinate with the Planning Commission for assessment of cost and other related issues concerning this project.
The KPT chairman briefed the meeting about the progress achieved in projects assigned to the Port Trust which include rehabilitation of various main roads leading to the port plus installation of 16 MGD desalination plant for which KPT's technical committee is to visit Denmark.
He said the KPT is initiating work on Port Tower from November 15. The 1,000 feet high tower will be constructed on BOT basis at a cost of Rs 20 billion and would be located at Clifton Beach.
He said waterjet would be another KPT project to be undertaken at a cost of $ 3 million at Oyster Rocks, adding beauty to Karachi.
During the briefing, the Karachi Nazim requested President Musharraf for release of funds from Export Development Fund as had been directed by him earlier.