- Getting the money from the private sector
His latest campaign for a Clean Karachi shows that Federal Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Haider Zaidi’s heart is in the right place. However, his method of raising the Rs 1.75 billion needed for the first phase of the campaign; by obtaining donations from the private sector; might indicate he himself has no place in the federal cabinet. Though he has been detailed for the task by the Prime Minister, this bypassing of the government fiscal machinery raises doubts. Karachi is urgently in need of a clean-up, especially after the recent ongoing monsoon rains led to flooding so severe that 23 people were killed.
Mr Zaidi’s two primary targets, encroachments on nullahs (of which Karachi has 38, including 13 major ones feeding into the sea) and plastic bags, are unobjectionable. However, for the latter he is relying on the provincial government to place a ban. He announced that the Frontiers Works Organisation would participate on voluntary basis, and that the PTI would supply 5000 volunteers. The money is needed for the first phase, which involves cleaning five major and six feeder mullahs and picking up trash all over the city. The timeframe of the first phase, 90 days, extends beyond the monsoon, and there is none for the entire campaign, so there is nothing saying it will be complete by the arrival of the 2020 monsoon.
Mr Zaidi has had a meeting with the business community, which has promised the funds. Mr Zaidi’s can-do spirit is admirable, but is there not a blurring of responsibility? The local government, in this case the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, is involved, but is not the lead organisation. The Sindh government’s involvement seems invisible, while the funding is coming from the same business community which heard out the Prime Minister’s harangue but made no promises to pay taxes.Does the Karachi businessman refuse to pay taxes to service the IMF loan, while ready to give for his city? Hopefully, Mr Zaidi’s promise is not symbolic, that all those encroachers displaced from nullahs would be accommodated in Pakistan housing scheme projects– none of which have been built so far. Karachi is so important to whole country that not only residents, bt people far and wide, will Mr Zaidi well.
