Karachi:
The former federal secretary, provincial minister of the guardian and current president of the research and political council, Muhammad Yunus Dagha, said that Karachi had undergone an estimated financial loss of 3,3660 billion rupees, due to the suspension of direct transfers of the GST, deficits of financing in development and control of the development infrastructure (IDC).
Speaking during the launch of its research document, Dagha said that the Provincial Finance Committee (PFC) has remained dysfunctional since 2009 due to structural weaknesses. Meanwhile, he said, the government had withdrawn several basic functions from local organizations, including water supply, sanitation, solid waste management, master planning, buildings, transport, public transport, land control, education and health care. This centralization, he argued, led to a constant drop in social indicators, in particular in education and health.
Dagha explained that IDC, introduced in 1994 to finance Karachi infrastructure, was not used for its ends. Instead of creating a dedicated fund, he said that the collections were illegally diverted from provincial accounts. “Last year, only RS170 billion was increased by IDC, while the total collections are estimated at around RS1trillion to date,” he revealed.
According to him, Karachi now requires between $ 9 and $ 10 billion – approximately 1,050 billion rupees – to fill its service and infrastructure service. “Not transforming Karachi into a livable city will continue to erode competitiveness and economic growth in Pakistan,” he warned.
