Karachi mayor throws a spanner in Green Line works to seek control of uplift schemes
Halts Rs6bn federally funded project, citing PIDCL’s failure to get No Objection Certificate from KMC
Says any project in Karachi should be executed through local agencies
KARACHI: The municipal leadership of Karachi has challenged the authority of the federal government by questioning the role of its Pakistan Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (PIDCL) in the urban development projects, insisting that all such initiatives in Karachi should fall under the city’s municipal jurisdiction.
The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), backed by the PPP-led Sindh government, has halted the federally funded Rs6 billion project of the Green Line Bus extension, citing the PIDCL’s failure to obtain a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from municipal authorities before restarting the work.
After the abolition of the Pakistan Works Department, the federal government assigns uplift works to the PIDCL, established under the Companies Act, 2017, in different parts of the country.
The work on the Green Line extension was restarted more than nine years after its ground-breaking around two weeks ago.
However, the construction between the Numaish intersection and the Municipal Park near Jama Cloth Market was stopped by Mayor Barrister Murtaza Wahab last week, citing “procedural violations”.
KMC officials said that an NOC was not issued “in perpetuity”, and the PIDCL was required to secure a fresh approval for the work on the BRT extension phase.
In a statement, the mayor also presented a demand of rehabilitation of infrastructure, which was damaged during the construction work of the first phase of the project completed more than three years ago.
He said due to the negligence and mismanagement of “other institutions”, citizens of Karachi and the KMC continued to bear the brunt of criticism and inconvenience.
However, the situation is far more complex. In a conversation with Dawn, Karachi Mayor Wahab spoke openly, expressing his desire to completely exclude the PIDCL from the city’s infrastructure development works.
“Yes, absolutely,” he responded without hesitation when asked if he wished to “minus” the PIDCL from Karachi’s development projects.
“Any project in Karachi — regardless of whether it’s funded by the federal government — should be executed through local agencies,” Mayor Wahab asserted.
“If a project pertains to a town, then the respective of town administration should handle it. If it concerns the city as a whole, we [KMC] will take responsibility. We are the ones answerable to the people — they come to us with questions. Most of them don’t even know who the head of PIDCL is.”
The mayor said he had the full backing of the Sindh government in perusing this policy.
He added that he had even raised concerns over the slow progress of the Red Line BRT project, which is being executed by the provincial administration.
“But there’s a difference,” he explained. “I’m part of the advisory body overseeing the execution of the Red Line BRT. I raise questions in meetings, I demand explanations, and I get a clear picture of what’s happening. But when it comes to the PIDCL-led Green Line project, I’m completely in the dark — yet I’m still held accountable and face public criticism.”
As the city administration sticks firm to its demands, the federal government appears to be little impressed over the objections raised by the mayor on the extension of the Green Line BRT project. It has not formally responded to the KMC’s concerns despite passage of several days after suspension of the work.
A source privy to the situation said that the PIDCL officials made an immediate contact with the mayor when the work was stopped.
It was decided between the two sides that they would sit together on Friday last to sort out issues.
“But since then no meeting has been held,” said the sources. “The federal authorities now believe that the matter lies between the Karachi mayor and the contractor. As for the NOC, the PIDCL is already in possession of one issued by the KMC in October 2017, rendering the current argument over the NOC irrelevant,” they added.