Good of the federal and Sindh governments to finally decide to work together to solve ‘all of Karachi’s problems at once’. The prime minister’s ‘historic’ financial package unveiled on Saturday, worth Rs1.1 trillion, is a very welcome step and in all honesty the last and only chance at addressing the city’s chronic municipal and infrastructure problems. All that can go wrong, and indeed is wrong, with the city’s administrative functioning in case of something like unexpected rains became evident over the last few weeks as Karachi gave the look of a big, fast-running river, hundreds of people were killed, businesses shut down, power out for days and everybody was made miserable for no fault of theirs. Now it has been decided that the centre will work with the provincial government, which means both will contribute to the package and both will carry out their own share of responsibilities. This ‘transformation plan’ will be implemented through a Provincial Coordination Implementation Committee (PCIC), which will be headed by the chief minister. The number-one item on the list is the city’s water supply problem, for which the federal and provincial governments will work on the Grater Karachi Water Supply Scheme. Hopefully, if everything has been planned right, Karachi’s water problems, which remain elevated regardless of rains or other natural disasters, will finally be solved in three years. Number-two is the problem of encroachments on nullahs, which is one of the prime reasons for all the water logging whenever there is some rain. Number-three is the sewage system and the matter of solid waste disposal, for which the prime minister said they would “make a proper system.” And number-four is the pressing problem of transport. That is why the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) has been included in this historic package. The plan seems good enough, on paper at least, which is why you can expect everyone especially the media to keep a very close eye on the implementation. That is a very good thing because while it is very nice that PTI and PPP have acted maturely and put their differences aside for the sake of the city and the country, it will be very important to avoid even minor friction since it can slow down work to a large degree. And with the media, which means the whole world, watching they will no doubt go the extra mile to make sure everything is in order. The people of Karachi have suffered long enough. The prime minister’s concern for the city, and his package, must be appreciated. Hopefully this is the solution that the city needed for so long. *