Federal govt to allocate Rs611 billion for Karachi plan: Asad Umar

ISLAMABAD: Federal Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar has said that the federal government will allocate Rs 611 billion in the Rs 1.1tln Karachi Transformation Plan.

Asad Umar in a statement said that Karachi’s development projects will take place under the Karachi Transformation Plan.

Umar’s clarification came on the heels of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s statement on Sunday during a rally in which he said that the Sindh government was contributing Rs 800 billion for the Karachi package whereas the Centre was only allocating Rs300bn.

Held a meeting with ministries of railways, water resources, planning, finance, EAD & NDMA to get work started on projects in federal responsibility list of the karachi package. Everyone asked to develop action plans with clear deadlines for each project. Finalization in 1 week.

— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) September 7, 2020

Providing a breakdown of the development plan, Umar said that the greater Karachi water supply — KIV scheme — will cost around Rs46billion whereas Rs300bn will be allocated for the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project.

The minister said that Rs131 billion have been allocated for the railway freight corridor while the government will also allocate Rs5billion for the Greenline project. The government had allocated Rs254 bn to provide them compensation, he added.

Asad Umar said the cost of all these projects will amount to an estimated Rs736billion and the federal government will release Rs611billion from it.

He noted that the Supreme Court had also instructed the federal government to start work on some projects and that it was the responsibility of the federal government to start the KCR project.

Asad Umar said, “The PTI government is mulling over working with the Sindh government for the development of the metropolis.”

Earlier, Prime Minister Imran Khan had announced a ‘historic’ relief package worth Rs1.1 trillion for development projects in Karachi, saying that the package will address the chronic municipal and infrastructure issues of the country’s financial hub.