Mayor demands due monetary share of Karachi

Mayor Karachi on Friday demanded the federal government to ensure due monetary share of Karachi, which has the largest contribution in the national economy. Referring to the Federal Board of Revenue's (FBR) latest report regarding city-wise tax contribution, Waseem said that traders of Karachi ranked top amongst 92 cities of the country with the contribution of Rs30.87 billion to the national exchequer.

He said that FBR data proved his point to be true that Karachi contributes majorly in the country in revenue collection, however, no attention was given to provision of basic amenities to citizens of Karachi on governmental level, though we could further enhance national revenue collection by improving the infrastructure in Karachi.

The policy makers should get a clear understanding of the situation of revenue recovery and availability of basic civic facilities in Karachi. Karachi markets include those located in Saddar, Tariq Road, Clifton, DHA, Gulistan e Jauhar, Golimar from where a record Rs30.87 billion revenue is collected with 85,020 tax filers, whereas, tax collected from Lahore's Anarkali market, Mall Road, Liberty and Hafeez Centre was Rs567 million with 3925 tax filers. He said FBR reported recovery of Rs1.092 billion from major markets in Rawalpindi with 6560 tax filers and from Faisalabad Rs141 million with 2266 tax filers. In Islamabad recovery of Rs1.93 billion was made with 6428 tax filers.

Mayor said he has been saying that Karachi is the business hub of Pakistan and therefore its infrastructure needs lots of attention but policy makers not paying attention on this. He said broken roads, overflowing sewage and obsolete transport in Karachi was a cause of concern. With no mega project or development works Karachi still contribute chiefly in the national exchequer so this city must not be overlooked or neglected.