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Pakistan’s Wall Street a mess just like the economy
 By Amar
Guriro
KARACHI: II Chundrigar Road, which is also called Pakistan’s Wall
Street and is the commercial hub of the provincial capital, has
fallen victim to gross negligence by the concerned authorities.
Heaps of sewage waste and garbage lying on the road beside manholes
are a glaring example of apathy and make a mockery of the recent
targets announced by the federal government to achieve safe
sanitation by 2016.
The Pakistani government is celebrating 2009 as the year of
environment and has announced to initiate different programmes for
the safe sanitation at different levels, but the condition of the
country’s financial hub indicates that such goals are still a
distant dream.
Originally known as McLeod Road, II Chundrigar Road was named after
interim Prime Minister of Pakistan, Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar.
This road accommodates head offices of almost all multinational and
national banks, corporations, the State Bank of Pakistan, cotton
exchange, stock exchange, offices of the CCPO Karachi and Sindh DIG,
and also offices of newspapers and private television channels.
Keeping in view the immense importance of this road, the heaps of
sewerage and garbage are certainly a cause for embarrassment.
Open manholes, uncovered drains and chocking gutters are not new in
the city and most of the residential colonies are suffering from
such problems but even the financial street of the country is not
spared from the negligence of the concerned authorities.
Most of the manhole lids are stolen making them a menace for
commuters on the country’s financial artery. One can see these open
manholes on the right side of the road when walking from Shaheen
Complex to Merewether Tower.
The City District Government Karachi (CDGK) had renovated the II
Chundrigar Road, but within two years, it has again fallen victim to
municipal negligence. The CDGK had initiated the renovation and
beautification work of the road with a huge cost of Rs 270 million
in April 2005 and it was completed in December 2007.
Out of this total amount, State Bank of Pakistan had provided Rs 220
million and the remaining funds had been provided by the city
government.
Though, the beatification project was carried out with such a
mammoth amount, nothing has so far been done to maintain the road’s
beauty and keep it clean.
Interestingly, when this scribe contacted CDGK Executive District
Officer Municipal Service Masoof Alam for an official version, he
said that the manholes are not under the administrative control of
his department. “We are only handling solid waste, not manholes...
you will have to contact the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB)
to ask why they are not removing sewerage and garbage dumps from
this road,” he said. Despite several attempts, KWSB authorities
could not be contacted in this regard.
Daily Times: June 8, 2009 |
