No billboards on Karachi’s footpaths, commissioner orders

KARACHI: No billboards should be set up on footpaths in Karachi, the city’s administrator and commissioner, Iftikhar Shallwani, ordered on Friday.

He directed that only small-sized billboards be installed on buildings.

Shallwani said the purpose is to beautify the city and protect the rights of pedestrians.

He was meeting a delegation of the Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI) led by Zubair Chaya. KATI President Saleemuz Zaman and former president Shaikh Umar Rehan attended it too.

The commissioner said roundabouts would be allotted for marketing after an auction.

He told the business community that it has an important role to play in the country's development.

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Measures are being taken, he said, to uplift the road infrastructure of the industrial areas. “We will have no issue if the present allottees want to get back the roundabouts after the auction,” he said, adding that roundabouts would be auctioned for one year.

Big sized signboards on footpaths are violating the rights of pedestrians and destroying pavements, said Shallwani.

He said the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation is working to make the city better despite limited resources.

Renaming Korangi 3,000 Road

The Kati delegation had a request for the administrator to rename the Korangi 3,000 Road after former Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry president SM Muneer for his services.

This request was accepted by Shallwani.

He said that the services rendered by all such people should be acknowledged.