Majority of uplift projects incomplete over shortage of funds: Mayor

Mayor Wasim Akhtar has said KMC would face more shortfall in the head of salaries which had been increased by 10 per cent but the due amount was not likely to be given to them. He said amount was allocated for 700 uplift schemes in the last budget but most of them remained incomplete as the Sindh government did not release the required funds. that Addressing a meeting on the upcoming fiscal year’s budget, he said funds for Karachi’s development projects had been deducted and a huge amount would be needed to complete old schemes in the next year’s budget. He said hundreds of uplift projects in the city could not be completed as the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation has not been provided with total funds under the Annual Development Programme since 2016. Metropolitan Commissioner Dr Syed Saif ur Rehman, finance adviser Riaz Khatri, director budget Nasir Mehmood, additional director Planning Afsar Abdi and other officials were present on the occasion. The mayor said the Akhtar was of the view that only Rs625 million was given to the KMC last year and the department was denied as the total entire amount allocated for it. He said the salaries were increased last year too but the KMC was not provided with the due amount “that’s why the outstanding dues of the employees kept increasing and more than Rs3billion are yet to be paid to the employees”. “The provincial government once again increased salaries by 10 per cent, and if we are not given a special grant in this regard, we would be unable to make the increment,” he said. “The funds of the KMC are deducted every year that’s why the department is facing difficulties in completing the uplift schemes. In the next year’s budget, we will try to keep more amount for development schemes rather than non-development schemes,” he added. The mayor was of the view that on the one hand, the provincial government had deducted the KMC’s funds and, on the other hand, its own revenue has been affected badly due to the pandemic that increased miseries of the department.