Karachi: Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Karachi chief and opposition leader in the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), Saifuddin Advocate, on Saturday questioned why Karachi was being denied its rightful share of development funds despite contributing around 62 per cent of the federal government's revenue.
Addressing a post federal budget press conference at Idara Noor-i-Haq, he called on the federal government to announce a special package of at least Rs500 billion for Karachi and urged the Sindh government to allocate a minimum of Rs5 billion to each town in the upcoming provincial budget.
Saifuddin Advocate said the city was facing severe shortages of water, inadequate sanitation services, transport problems, deteriorating roads and infrastructure, as well as challenges in the education and health sectors.
Criticising the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), he said that if the party was genuinely committed to securing Karachi's rights, it should have staged a walkout from the federal cabinet in protest against what he termed inadequate budget allocations for the city.
Referring to major development schemes, he said the K-IV water supply project required at least Rs40bn for timely completion, but only Rs10bn had been allocated in the federal budget. Similarly, he said, the Green Line Phase-II project required Rs6bn, while only Rs1.9bn had been earmarked.
He said that although Rs20bn had been allocated last year under the Urban Infrastructure Development Package, no significant development work had been carried out in Karachi. While the same amount had been allocated again this year, only Rs7.5bn was expected to be released, he added.
Saifuddin Advocate said that Karachi remained the country's largest economic hub and continued to suffer from official neglect despite generating substantial revenues. He said the Board of Revenue had collected Rs3.256 trillion in taxes from Karachi during the previous financial year, compared to Rs306bn from the rest of Sindh.
He further said that Karachi had been deprived of Rs3.22 trillion under the Octroi and Zila Tax (OZT) formula and criticised the disparity between the Sindh government's budget of more than Rs3.5 trillion and the limited development funds available to local governments.
Calling for structural reforms, he said no meeting of the Provincial Finance Commission (PFC) had been held since 2008 and urged the Sindh government to immediately establish the commission to ensure equitable distribution of resources.
The JI leader also criticised the performance of the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board, over inefficiency and corruption, and demanded that its powers be devolved to towns and union councils.
He said the K-IV project, initially estimated at Rs25bn in 2002 during the tenure of former city nazim Niamatullah Khan, had now escalated to Rs126bn because of repeated delays. He warned that even if water from K-IV reached Karachi, citywide distribution would remain impossible without completion of the augmentation project.
Questioning the Sindh government's claims regarding flood rehabilitation, he urged authorities to disclose the locations of the 2.1 million houses reportedly built for victims of the 2022 floods.
Saifuddin also highlighted the financial crisis at the Federal Urdu University, where teachers were on strike over non-payment of salaries. He said the institution required a grant of Rs2.2bn but was being provided only Rs1bn, and called on Chancellor Asif Ali Zardari and Pro-Chancellor Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui to intervene.
He further demanded that institutions currently controlled by the Sindh government be returned to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, criticised the outsourcing of public assets under public-private partnership arrangements, and called for the Karachi Medical and Dental College (KMDC) to be handed back to the KMC.
He also highlighted misuse of emergency procurement provisions, saying that large-scale projects were being executed without tenders, and demanded greater transparency and accountability.
JI Karachi leaders Taufiquddin Siddiqui, MPA Muhammad Farooq, Zahid Askari, Najeeb Ayubi and Taimur Ahmed flanked Saifuddin Advocate at the press conference.