KARACHI: Karachi Mayor Barrister Murtaza Wahab on Wednesday announced that details of the city administration’s development projects, land and other assets, employees’ records and financial transactions will increasingly be made available online as part of efforts to improve transparency.
Speaking at a press conference at the headquarters of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC), he said citizens should be able to obtain information about the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) without having to approach its officials or search through physical files.
“We want that whenever anyone wants to know what is happening in Karachi, they should not have to depend on any officer or file.”
He said new sections had been added to the KMC website, including information on municipal assets and properties, development projects, a Karachi Development Map and the Land Record Management System.
He said details of 733 KMC development projects, with a combined estimated cost of around Rs59 billion, were now available online, including project costs, approved allocations and expenditure.
The system would also identify contractors, funding sources and the institutions responsible for individual projects, he said.
Through the development map, residents would be able to identify the location and jurisdiction of ongoing road projects and check their cost, expenditure, progress and expected completion date.
He cited several projects; i.e., a Rs173 million scheme in District East, a Rs155 million Patel Hospital Road project and a Rs472 million Mirza Adam Khan Road project.
Photographs and videos showing project progress would also be uploaded, allowing citizens to monitor work remotely, he said.
The Mayor said KMC was digitising decades-old and, in some cases, centuries-old land records to preserve them and reduce the risk of loss or alteration.
He said future property transfers would also be recorded electronically, reducing human intervention and delays associated with the movement of files.
Information on KMC-owned land, shops, bus terminals and other assets was also being opened to the public, although the system was still being improved and additional details would be added, he said.
He said KMC had also transferred its employees’ records to the SAP system to improve oversight and prevent fraudulent or duplicate payments.
He said KMC was moving towards an electronic, account-to-account payment system under which every payment from the corporation’s accounts could be tracked. Revenue and receivables would also be linked to the digital system in the coming months, he said.
The Mayor claimed the move to digital collection had already increased revenue in some departments. Monthly collections that had previously stood at around Rs170-180 million had risen significantly, with one department collecting about Rs300 million last month, he said.
He said the objective was to maintain a verifiable record of public revenue and expenditure, and improve accountability.
He said work was under way on the Hub Canal and that the Hub Reservoir had been cleaned. He also cited sewage treatment projects TP-1 and TP-3 as measures aimed at reducing marine pollution.
He said the 38-kilometre, six-lane Shahrah-e-Bhutto Expressway was carrying thousands of vehicles daily and that other road and expressway projects were also under way.
He said the proposed Chakor Nala Expressway would help improve connectivity and ease congestion for residents of Gulistan-e-Johar, Pehlwan Goth, Dalmia and areas around Rashid Minhas Road.
Wahab said the digital transparency measures were not intended to target any individual or institution but to create a system in which citizens could directly monitor public assets, development schemes and expenditure.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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