New Karachi administrator unlikely to deliver unless KMC is empowered

• Murtaza Wahab has taken charge as Karachi Administrator.
• Neither was Akhtar legally responsible for the issues of garbage, water, sewerage system, and illegal constructions in the city nor will Wahab be.
  
• After the 18th amendment, the provinces were made autonomous but they largely failed to delegate powers to the local governments.
  

KARACHI: The newly-appointed Karachi administrator is unlikely to produce the best results and give performance unless the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) is empowered, The News reported. 

Critics of the Sindh government’s decision, however, believe that the appointment of Wahab as the KMC administrator will be nothing but optics until the government goes for the bold decision to empower the corporation.

Neither was MQM-P’s Wasim Akhtar, the last elected mayor of Karachi, nor will PPP’s Barrister Murtaza Wahab, be legally responsible for the city’s garbage, water and sewerage woes as none of these key civic problems are the domain of the KMC.

NED University architecture and planning department Professor Dr Noman Ahmed said that unreasonable expectations have been set with Wahab’s appointment.

After the 18th amendment, the provinces were made autonomous in several areas but they largely failed to delegate powers to the local governments.

If the situation remains as it is, Wahab will have no powers in functions falling under the jurisdiction of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA), master plan department, Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB), Lyari Development Authority (LDA), Malir Development Authority (MDA), Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) and Sindh Sanitation Board.

This means that neither was Akhtar legally responsible for the issues of garbage collection, water scarcity, dilapidated sewerage system, and illegal constructions in the city, nor will Wahab be.

The chiefs of various civic bodies, including the managing directors of the SSWMB and KWSB, and the director-general of the SBCA, are under the local government ministry and in no way accountable to the KMC.

The corporation has also been facing an immense financial crunch for the past several years as almost all of its major revenue-generating departments have been devolved to district municipal corporations (DMCs), which are directly under the Sindh chief minister.

The billboards and advertisements, which were earlier the biggest source of revenue for the KMC, are now under the seven DMCs of the city.

Dr Ahmed pointed out that the corporation’s budget is ridiculously low. It is even lower than the budget of the Malir Expressway, he said.

‘PPP’s political agenda’

Talking to The News, Akhtar said the appointment of Wahab was nothing but a political agenda of the PPP. “Without funds, he cannot deliver. Even Bilawal Bhutto Zardari cannot deliver without funds,” the last mayor asserted.

Wahab, Akhtar said, was not only a political personality but he also did not have any experience of the local government. “I am personally not against him. Being the son of the city and being able to deliver are two different things.”

Dr Ahmed, However, believes that Akhtar also spent his tenure locking horns with the provincial government and failed to even serve in areas where he could have delivered such as beautifying the city’s landscape.

Wahab could play his role in empowering the KMC, which currently had petty 18 to 19 functions in the city, he added.

Farhan Anwar, urban planner and project manager of NGO Shehri – Citizens for a Better Environment, also believes that the appointment of a new administrator will not change much.

“The corporation is dying. It doesn’t matter who is heading it,” he remarked. “Unless a bold decision of empowering the KMC is taken, there can be no betterment.”

Dr Ahmed believes that if Wahab distanced himself from politically contested areas and focuses on culture and sports, which are under the KMC’s jurisdiction, “he can contribute a lot.”