ammarafzal
FULL MEMBER
New Recruit
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2009
- Messages
- 2
- Reaction score
- 0
City Nazim Mustafa Kamal visited Institute of Business Administration Karachi yesterday at around 3:30 PM as part of the institutes distinguished guest lecture series.
Mustafa Kamal talked about his governemnts acheivements in Karachi and first ever master plan for the city which was developed under MQM and was followed by concrete actions, not just mere words. He added humorously that if he knew he would have to do so much work before he became City Nazim he would have run away and hid somewhere in the mountains where no one could ever find him. He said that previously water and sewerage system in the city was poor but due to efforts of the City District Government 99% of the population in the city now has clean drinking water. He compared the situation of Pakistan to that of a medical patient in Intensive Care Unit and stressed that the youth of today are the doctors who can pull the patient (Pakistan) out of ICU. He said that two things need to be done which have hampered Pakistan's growth over the years
1) Provincial Autonomy, he stressed that is it important so that provinces can develop plans according to their own needs rather than resources being allocated to them from the centre.
2) Feudalism, he said that feudalism has restricted growth and development in many areas of Pakistan.
Mustafa Kamal said that as business students, students of IBA must be aware of the importance of successful marketing. He said that Karachi has good infrastructure, cheapest skilled and unskilled labor, and three ports two of which are fully operational (Gwadar is not yet operational). It is gateway to central asian countries and provides good business opportunity to foreigners , therefore there is a need to market our product (Karachi) effectively to the outside world. The Nazim said that due successful marketing of the city to the outside world he was able to attract $1.8 billion of Foreign Direct Investment at a time when the country's total Foreign Direct Investment was around $3.5-4 billion .He said that the City Government has spent around Rs 300 billion in development projects in Karachi but it is also the responsibility of the citizens to take good care of facilities that have been provided to them. The parks, underpasses, roads and public property should be used with care an handled as if they were their own belongings. Lastly he said that the model of the city can be compared with any country in the world, and foreign universities (including Rice University) have listed Karachi as the third best in terms of the city's structure and model.
In response to a question about taxes Mustafa Kamal stated that taxes are very nominal and are applied to houses ranging from 80 sq feet or more. He said that since it was his last year as City Nazim he could have eliminated the taxes, took credit and make people happy but he said that the taxes were necessary for the maintenance of projects which were worth billions of rupees. In response to a question about media responsibility Mustafa Kamal pointed to the recent incident with the media journalist which was also uploaded on YouTube. He said that in Karachi there are 13 independent authorities for areas like KPT, Steel Mills, DHA etc. Even though these areas do not fall under the City Government's jurisdiction he was employing his resources to help curtail one incident of fire in KPT. Thus when journalist was trying to suggest to him of the City District government's carelessness he became frustrated at the fact that even though the area was not under his jurisdiction he had employed the resources of the City Government to help solve the matter. Thus saying that incidents like this can sometimes lead to frustration.
In the Dean and Director IBA and former Governor State Bank Dr Ishrat Hussain thanked City Nazim and said that Mustafa Kamal was a prime example of the fact that good governance and good politics can work in tandom. Dr Ishrat also said that one of the reason he wanted Mustafa Kamal to visit IBA was that the students should explore opporunities in public service as well and not just go after Multi National Corporations. He said that helping other people gives great internal satisfaction and that students should engage increasingly in social services and volunteer work.
What are your views regarding the Mayor's performance over the year in generaland the party in specific?
Mustafa Kamal talked about his governemnts acheivements in Karachi and first ever master plan for the city which was developed under MQM and was followed by concrete actions, not just mere words. He added humorously that if he knew he would have to do so much work before he became City Nazim he would have run away and hid somewhere in the mountains where no one could ever find him. He said that previously water and sewerage system in the city was poor but due to efforts of the City District Government 99% of the population in the city now has clean drinking water. He compared the situation of Pakistan to that of a medical patient in Intensive Care Unit and stressed that the youth of today are the doctors who can pull the patient (Pakistan) out of ICU. He said that two things need to be done which have hampered Pakistan's growth over the years
1) Provincial Autonomy, he stressed that is it important so that provinces can develop plans according to their own needs rather than resources being allocated to them from the centre.
2) Feudalism, he said that feudalism has restricted growth and development in many areas of Pakistan.
Mustafa Kamal said that as business students, students of IBA must be aware of the importance of successful marketing. He said that Karachi has good infrastructure, cheapest skilled and unskilled labor, and three ports two of which are fully operational (Gwadar is not yet operational). It is gateway to central asian countries and provides good business opportunity to foreigners , therefore there is a need to market our product (Karachi) effectively to the outside world. The Nazim said that due successful marketing of the city to the outside world he was able to attract $1.8 billion of Foreign Direct Investment at a time when the country's total Foreign Direct Investment was around $3.5-4 billion .He said that the City Government has spent around Rs 300 billion in development projects in Karachi but it is also the responsibility of the citizens to take good care of facilities that have been provided to them. The parks, underpasses, roads and public property should be used with care an handled as if they were their own belongings. Lastly he said that the model of the city can be compared with any country in the world, and foreign universities (including Rice University) have listed Karachi as the third best in terms of the city's structure and model.
In response to a question about taxes Mustafa Kamal stated that taxes are very nominal and are applied to houses ranging from 80 sq feet or more. He said that since it was his last year as City Nazim he could have eliminated the taxes, took credit and make people happy but he said that the taxes were necessary for the maintenance of projects which were worth billions of rupees. In response to a question about media responsibility Mustafa Kamal pointed to the recent incident with the media journalist which was also uploaded on YouTube. He said that in Karachi there are 13 independent authorities for areas like KPT, Steel Mills, DHA etc. Even though these areas do not fall under the City Government's jurisdiction he was employing his resources to help curtail one incident of fire in KPT. Thus when journalist was trying to suggest to him of the City District government's carelessness he became frustrated at the fact that even though the area was not under his jurisdiction he had employed the resources of the City Government to help solve the matter. Thus saying that incidents like this can sometimes lead to frustration.
In the Dean and Director IBA and former Governor State Bank Dr Ishrat Hussain thanked City Nazim and said that Mustafa Kamal was a prime example of the fact that good governance and good politics can work in tandom. Dr Ishrat also said that one of the reason he wanted Mustafa Kamal to visit IBA was that the students should explore opporunities in public service as well and not just go after Multi National Corporations. He said that helping other people gives great internal satisfaction and that students should engage increasingly in social services and volunteer work.
What are your views regarding the Mayor's performance over the year in generaland the party in specific?
