=> KARACHI (December 11 2007): While the City Council
KARACHI (December 11 2007): While the City Council passed two unread resolutions on Monday, the union council (UC) nazims from opposition benches registered strong resistance for not being taken on board in preparation of Karachi Strategic Development Plan-2020 (KSDP-2020).
The City Council session, held after almost 20 minutes delay due to lack of quorum here in the City Council Hall with Naib Nazim Nasrin Jalil as its chairperson, remained subject to short suspensions throughout the proceedings.
The council offered ‘Fateha’ when two condolence resolutions were tabled, one of them for the accidental death of a fire-fighter during a fire-fighting mission. Iftikhar Ali Qaimkhani, Executive District Officer (EDO), Master Plan Group of Offices, City District Government Karachi (CDGK) was also present in the council to have inputs on KSDP-2020.
The house also witnessed a short spell of debate involving the convenor, Imran Seed Bhagpati, Saifuddin, Ramzan Awan, Sheikh Mehboob and a treasury member on rate and payment of the honorarium for UC nazims.
The argument came when Ramzan and Imran criticised the town auditor for not accepting the bills for requisition of honorarium from the UC nazims and contended that a resolution (604) had authorised the latter to take Rs 5000 each from the town and UC.
The city government’s finance department had issued notification to all UCs. The convenor replied and rejected the contention that a UC nazim could get honorarium from two different places. A treasury member backed the convenor’s point.
The opposition was supportive when Ramzan lashed out at Qaimkhani for being in contact with the town nazims instead of taking the UC nazims into confidence during preparation of the KSDP-2020.
In continuation of a debate on the KSDP-2020, Abdul Razzaq of Al-Khidmat group on point of order questioned the EDO Master Plan that if the document had any solution for the city’s longstanding dilapidated drainage system?
Qaimkhani, referring to the summary of KSDP-2020, replied that while projects like S-3 and stormwater-drainage were included in the 2020 plan a ‘digital base map’ of the city was also ready to deal with such problems in future on the international pattern.
As soon as the session was resumed after a 15-minute break for prayer the convenor was quick in asking the Haq Parast dominated house to vote for making two mysterious resolutions, tabled by the convenor without being read out in the house, a part of the Master Plan.
Of the two, one resolution suggested establishment of sports complexes and recreational centres in 18 towns of the metropolis as per requirement and making the proposal a part of the Master Plan under sports policy.
The document said no sports facilities were available in 11 towns including Keamari, Baldia, Site, Lyari, Shah Faisal, Korangi, Malir, Bin Qasim, Landhi, Gadap and Orangi, which have a population totalling 10 million.
The said towns, it said, had produced international players like Saeed Anwar, Tasleem Arif, Touseef Ahmed, Asim Kamal, Rashid Latif, Samiullah, Kalimullah, Captain Umer Abdul Aziz, Maharullah, Noman Karim and many others.
Second resolution said that the “potential of cultural tourism needs to be harnessed through preservation works, cultural products, presentation of diverse communities’ traditions and heritage for income generation and poverty alleviation”.
Salient features of the document are as follows:
1- Declaration of towns with large number of notified historic buildings with the following provisions:
a. Preservation of historic urban character, old trees and open spaces
b. Enactment of special bylaws for controlling development in the area eg FAR and height controls and give advantages to those who maintain street facades and integrity of the historic buildings
d. Management and redirection of vehicular traffic
e. Creation of walking streets and control over hoardings, urban and graphic design
f. Revitalisation of historic urban core
2- Protection of natural heritage and goths
3- Promotion of the city as ‘Cultural Karachi’
a. Establish a Cultural Karachi Board with representation of urban design professionals
b. Create cultural enclaves and cuisine for diverse community representation
c. Creating cultural streets in all towns
d. Encouragement of arts and artists by creating urban exhibition spaces
e. Create sense of place and local identity in each locality
4- Build up civic deficit
The convenor suspended the session for December 11, 2007 after announcing that full copies of KSDP-2020 would be provided to the members in the next session.
Source: Business Recorder
Date:12/11/2007
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