Spokesperson to the Sindh Government Murtaza Wahab has been notified as the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation's administrator.

Wahab replaces Laeeq Ahmed, a BPS-20 grade officer, with immediate effect, read a notification issued by the Sindh government on Thursday.

Wahab is currently serving as adviser to Sindh chief minister on Law, Environment, Climate Change & Coastal Development Department.

The move comes as Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the ruling party in Sindh, aims to galvanise support prior to the upcoming local government elections.

Wahab has been tasked to improve the city's municipal services and to accomplish important infrastructure projects. He is the son of former Secretary of Information for PPP, Fauzia Wahab (late), and was elected as a Senator from Sindh after Saeed Ghani's resignation.

While he later contested the last general elections under the PPP banner from PS-111, Wahab eventually lost the seat to PTI's Imran Ismail, who was later appointed as Sindh governor.

Murtaza Wahab for taking care of cleanliness in Karachi

The appointment has received praise from PPP stalwarts, but criticised by opposition parties in the province as a politically-motivated appointment.

Earlier, Firdous Shamim Naqvi, a PTI MPA for Sindh, said that a neutral person should be appointed as administrator Karachi.

Both PTI and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) have strongly opposed Wahab's appointment.

Sindh Governor Ismail said that a meeting had earlier been held at the Sindh Governor House in the presence of the prime minister and military leadership, in which it was decided that the administrator would be a political person and his appointment would be made after consultations with all stakeholders.

Convener MQM-P Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, categorically rejecting the Sindh government's decision, said that his party was not consulted over the matter.

The MQM-P leader also hinted at taking out a mass rally against the Sindh government.