KARACHI: Kashmir Road was inaugurated after renovation works in a ceremony attended by Karachi mayor Waseem Akhter, Association of Builders and Developers chairman Arif Yousuf Jeewa and patron-in- chief Mohsin Sheikhani and DMC East chairman Moed Anwar on Saturday. The renovation work was carried out with support from the ABAD members who collaborated with DMC East for the purpose. After revamping, LED lights and colouring polls and walls have been installed along the road. Speaking to the media after the inauguration, Mayor Waseem Akhter said that with the completion of work on the road, the metropolitan corporation had truly started delivering civic facilities to the residents with support of the private sector. Meanwhile, he said, the KMC had not turned its back on its responsibilities like keeping the city clean. “DMC chairmen have been instructed to keep close liaison and watch on cleaning work being undertaken by the Solid Waste Management Board,” he said, adding that the city would be beautified and brought back to its original glory. Akhtar urged the public to own the city and to work for its improvement, saying, “If we own the city, it will not be difficult to bring back its lost glory. It is the biggest city of Pakistan. Let us make it the most liveable city as well.” The mayor thanked ABAD chairman Arif Jeewa and other members of the association for supporting the KMC in its endeavour to make Karachi the ‘City of Lights’. Addressing the media, ABAD chairman Arif Yousuf Jeewa said his association would provide all out support to the mayor and the chairmen of the DMCs for the betterment of the city. “I hope that we will see many development works completed during the tenure of Waseem Akhter as the mayor of the city. ABAD will continue to support the mayor and The DMCs chairmen in pursuit of this objective,” he said, adding that the business community of Karachi was ready to help and support civic bodies solve longstanding municipal issues. He said renovating Kashmir Road was the association’s social responsibility as a stakeholder in the city. DMC East chairman Moed Anwar said, “we have meager resources and huge problems but we believe that we can surpass these roadblocks through private-public partnership. “It is the need of the hour to solve these problems.” He thanked the ABAD and its chairman Arif Jeewa for their active support for rehabilitation of Kashmir Road. ABAD vice chairman Sohail Warind, Chairman Southern Region Altaf Tai, Convener KMC Sub-Committee ABAD Rahil Rinch, Municipal Commissioner Akhter Ali Sheikh, and Superintending Engineer Tariq Mughal were also present on the occasion. Published in Daily Times, April 1st 2018.