KARACHI, Aug 18: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Saturday launched three major projects for Karachi which will be completed within two years at a cost of over Rs443 million. The three projects - Shah Faisal flyover, FTC flyover and KDA Naya Ghar Re-settlement Scheme - are part of the 20 development projects which the government has planned to launch within a week in all four provinces to create large a number of jobs.

The President, who earlier in the day had performed the ground-breaking ceremony of KDA's Shah Faisal flyover and KMC's FTC flyover, launched the Naya Ghar Resettlement Scheme at Korangi, where he addressed the newly-elected Nazims, Naib Nazims and councillors and later had a brief chat with the women councillors.

Speaking at the launching ceremony of the low-cost housing scheme in Korangi, the President said that his government had been focussing on two important sectors - revival of the economy and poverty alleviation - which were inter-linked for the socio-economic development of the people.

The President said that the government had chalked out a programme for rehabilitation of the poor and to give them proprietary rights.

He said the government had been making an assessment of all those areas where villages, Chaks and Dhoks had been built on the government lands to give the people living there ownership rights and those people who did not have houses the government was considering granting them land around their villages. He said he wanted to see that every Pakistani had a piece of land.

Referring to the city slums, President Musharraf lamented that in the cities the development schemes were made in the past but without keeping any provision for the low-cost housing. "The planners failed to realise where those people would live who would provide them services and, as a result, the poor workers were left with no choice but to set up their own homes on nullahs and wherever they found a little piece of land and now they are known as illegal dwellers."

The President said that he had instructed the provincial governments that in future whenever a new housing scheme was planned, it must have a provision for 10 to 20 per cent land for low-cost housing.

He said he had also suggested the governments that if large-size plots were available, these should be allotted to a builder on the condition that half of the plot would be developed to provide houses to the poor at half the price.

The President said that such low-cost housing schemes would be launched in every province of the country to help the poor.

Karachi, he said, was the largest metropolitan city of the country where over 12 million people lived, which was one-tenth of the total population of the country and its governor and his ministers were doing a lot for the city and the province and they had initiated many development projects for this purpose.

He said the central government had provided funds for 100mgd water scheme which would cost Rs6 billion and to improve traffic system in the city the Northern bypass project had been finalized.

Lyari Expressway, he said, had also been approved which would be on the pattern of Canal Bank in Lahore, adding that about 15000 to 20000 families being affected by the Expressway, would be resettled in the area where three times more land would be available and this would be done by containing the width of the Lyari River.

ZAKAT FUND: He said the other development schemes included a new strategy to use the Zakat fund to help the deserving people to stand on their feet economically. For this purpose, he said, small loans of Rs20,000 to 50,000 would be given for starting small business.

In the beginning, he said, Rs2 billion would be spent every year to enable the deserving people to stand on their feet and stop asking for monthly stipends. Later, this fund would be increased to Rs5 billion and in three years one million families would benefit from it.

He disclosed that Prince Karim Aga Khan had agreed to launch micro- finance bank in Pakistan so that the poor could get loans to stand on their feet, improve their living and repay the loans in easy instalments.

NEW SYSTEM: Speaking at a gathering of the newly-elected Nazims, Naib Nazims and councillors, President Musharraf said that the power or authority which they had attained under the new system should not be used to establish their Thanedari but to serve the people. He hoped that Naimatullah Khan and his colleagues would not misuse the power and would serve the people with dedication and honesty.

He referred to the past practices when elections resulted in enmity between the winners and the losers and said that in elections some people won and some lost but they should not lead to an enmity.

"Let us live like civilized people, cultured and forward-looking nation. Let us change this environment and its responsibility lies on the winners who must show magnanimity by taking the defeated all along and work jointly in the larger interest of Karachi and the country," the President advised.

NEW SYSTEM: Terming the new system revolutionary, he hoped that councillors and Nazims would play their role for the success of this system. He said those people who were opposing this system had their vested interests. He questioned as to how a programme aimed at empowering the people could be bad?

In the past, he said, local government system was controlled by the provinces and the Centre but now it would be in the hands of the elected people who were accountable to their voters. Earlier, the Nazim of Karachi, Mr Naimatullah Khan, in his welcome address said that the newly-elected representatives were committed to serving the people, and assured the President on their behalf to work for the success of the new system.

Sindh Governor Muhammadmian Soomro thanked the President for taking personal interest in the development projects of Karachi and Sindh which had remained dormant for the last many years.

Dawn the Internet Edition