Karachi -  Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhter on Sunday demanded Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to announce a special development package for Karachi, saying the city was a major contributor to the country’s economy in terms of revenue.

He was addressing a gathering of all Karachi Tajir Ittehad in Old City, which was attended by All Karachi Tajir Ittehad Chairman Ateeq Mir, Cloth Market

Chairman S Alam, Akram Rana and other traders.

He said that a big chunk of funds was transferred to the local government during Musharraf era, and the then government worked for the development of the city.

“Now the prime minister should pay special attention to the development of

Karachi and announce a special package for it so that the democratic leaders could prove themselves better than dictators,” he argued.

He urged the traders to support the local government representatives in order to develop the city.

“We will provide plastic bags to the traders and ask them to throw garbage in them so that the local government’s (LG) drive for clean Karachi could be made successful,” he said.

He regretted that the provincial government had taken away all local government powers, including sewerage, transport, water supply, building control, master plan and others from the LG representatives.

He made it clear that LG representatives were the real representatives of the city and those sitting in the corridors of power should be aware that these are the people of the metropolis, especially the traders, on whose taxes the country’s budget is prepared.

He also announced to hold an important press conference on Monday along with elected chairmen and vice chairmen of the metropolis.