The year 2018 saw the Karachi mayor repeating his mantra throughout that he was a powerless mayor who had little control over the affairs of the city.
However, despite such woes, the mayor-led Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) has quite a few accomplishments — good and bad — to its credit, including the anti-encroachment drive that resulted in a makeover of several places in the city, such as the Empress Market, but which has also left several traders deprived of their means of livelihood.
Another striking aspect of the functioning of the KMC this year was the conspicuous absence of Deputy Mayor Arshad Vohra, who not only remained absent throughout 2018 at the KMC’s City Council sessions but also did not show up at major events concerning the metropolitan corporation.
Mayor with no say
When once asked about the mayor’s demand for more powers, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah sarcastically remarked, “Does he want powers of the prime minister?”
The provincial government has been rejecting the demands of Akhtar and his party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), for increase in mayoral powers and the persistent dispute between the Pakistan Peoples Party-led provincial government and the mayor has caused the city to suffer.
Justifying the current state of power equilibrium, the provincial government always claims that Akhtar is enjoying all the powers that have been vested in the mayor by the law — the Sindh Local Government Ordinance 2013.
Many key civic bodies, including the Karachi Development Authority (KDA), which owns significant land in the city, the Karachi Water & Sewerage Board (KWSB), which is responsible for water and sanitation in the city, the Sindh Building Control Authority, which approves construction of new buildings, and the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB), which deals with collection and disposal of solid waste, are working directly under the provincial government, and the KMC has no control over them.
The mayor has been demanding devolution of such authorities to the city government. Some petitions for it have also been filed with the higher judiciary, and their verdicts remain pending to date.
The mayor once censured the Sindh government for starting mega projects in the city under a project director. He claimed that the project director seemed to have taken over the powers of the mayor.
However, there have been some instances where the differences between the city and provincial government seemed to be getting bridged. One such occasion was a joint news conference of Akhtar and Saeed Ghani, who became the Sindh local government minister after the general elections in July.
Both Akhtar and Ghani appeared friendly and agreed to work together for Karachi’s development. Once, Akhtar called Ghani a nice political worker and leader. He, however, added that Ghani was helpless as regards resolving the KMC’s issues.
Meanwhile, opposition parties at the KMC City Council have on their part criticised the mayor for not allowing them to discuss the issues of the city. The opposition inside and outside the City Council has also levelled allegations of corruption against the KMC.
Responding to demands for his resignation over corruption, lack of powers or other reasons, Akhtar responded that he was elected mayor due to votes of people, and that resigning from the mayorship would be tantamount to ditching the people’s mandate.
Few uplift works
The KMC could not carry out many development works in the city in 2018, which was time to time ascribed by the mayor to his lack of powers.
Talking to The News once, Akhtar said the KMC was not empowered to carry out any development scheme worth more than Rs20 million in the city. “The problems of Karachi can never be resolved with just two crore rupees!”
In terms of waste management, the performance of the KMC and district municipal corporations remained unsatisfactory, as various roads and streets in the city have turned into a dumping ground for garbage.
Talking to the media on several occasions, the mayor lamented that he was devoid of powers to lift garbage from the city, and that he could not even put manhole covers on sewerage lines. Once he said the disposal of garbage was the biggest issue of Karachi. However, Akhtar was successful in having some vital roads carpeted, including Teen Hatti Road, University Road and Korangi Road. During 2018 the mayor also developed some parks, including Bagh Ibne Qasim.
Though the Sindh government announced that it would help improve the 13 hospitals in the city being run by the KMC, no major improvement was observed in their performance during the year.
According to the mayor, a study carried out by the World Bank concluded that $100 billion were required for Karachi’s development. “We are in the Stone Age compared to other mega cities of the world,” he said, adding that there was no proper system of public transport, power, gas and water in the metropolis.
Anti-encroachment drive
The highlight of the year regarding the KMC is the anti-encroachment drive that was started by the corporation on the orders of the Supreme Court in the first week of October in the old city area.
The drive saw the clean-up of the Empress Market and the removal of all sorts of cabins and extensions of shops from footpaths and streets in the Saddar area.
However, many traders who were affected in the drive claimed that they had been running their shops according to legal agreements with the KMC, and that the demolition of their shops was, therefore, illegal.
The post-operation situation of the Empress Market is still unclear, as three committees formed by the mayor could not estimate how much money was required to restore the historical market to its original position.
Due to the anti-encroachment drive, the KMC and Akhtar have earned the ire of traders and civil society. Although the mayor has repeatedly assured that the traders affected by the drive would be provided alternative space, it has not pacified many traders.
During a news conference held recently at the Karachi Press Club, the Saddar Empress Market Traders Association demanded of the prime minister to remove Akhtar from the mayoral post. The association has also threatened the mayor with a lawsuit of Rs1 billion.
Defending himself against the charges of inflicting misery on traders, the mayor mostly claimed that he just followed the apex court’s orders. However, at an event at the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Akhtar maintained that narcotics businesses were operating at the Empress Market, which was a major reason behind the anti-encroachment drive.
The displaced vendors, however, again emerged at the Empress Market a few days after the operation. As no arrangement had been made beforehand for the large- and small-scale traders who would be affected by the anti-encroachment drive, the vendors should not be blamed for re-encroaching on the cleared spaces after a few days or occupying public spaces somewhere else.
Financial woes
Throughout the year, the mayor was found bemoaning the financial crisis at the metropolitan corporation, due to which it was unable to meet its expenses. Once, Ghani claimed that the KMC never made any serious effort to increase its revenues.
The mayor also never disclosed the recovery made by the KMC against its receivables. He avoided responding when asked what percentage of its dues was being recovered by the KMC.
Regarding corruption in the KMC, Akhtar gave the impression that measures were being taken to eradicate corrupt practices in the corporation. “Dacoits have been arrested but thieves are still at large, and will be arrested soon,” Akhtar once said when he was asked about his action against corruption.
No deputy mayor
The KMC worked without the deputy mayor throughout the year. Vohra, who was elected deputy mayor on the ticket of the MQM-P, had defected to the Pak Sarzameen Party in 2017.
During 2018, neither did Vohra show up at any KMC-related major event nor was any attempt made by the MQM-P to unseat him. Though officially he is still the deputy mayor of the city, practically he seems to have no role in the affairs of the KMC.
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