Karachi Mayor Barrister Murtaza Wahab today inaugurated the newly rehabilitated fire stations at Gulistan-e-Johar and Bolton Market to strengthen Karachi’s emergency response and firefighting capacity, .
The initiative is part of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s broader strategy to modernize the city’s rescue and firefighting infrastructure, ensuring faster and more effective emergency services for residents.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Mr Wahab said that the establishment of the fire stations marked a significant milestone in improving emergency preparedness across Karachi. He said that the Gulistan-e-Johar Fire Station had been restored after nearly three decades, transforming what had remained an abandoned facility into a fully functional emergency response centre that would serve Gulistan-e-Johar and its surrounding localities.
The mayor said that Karachi had witnessed several devastating fire incidents in the past, and those experiences had highlighted the need for stronger infrastructure, modern equipment, and better preparedness. He said the city had learned from the past and was taking practical measures to ensure that its firefighting and emergency response systems were capable of meeting future challenges.
Wahab emphasized that the rehabilitation of fire stations was only one component of a much larger modernization programme. Alongside the restoration of existing facilities, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation is upgrading fire station infrastructure and procuring state-of-the-art firefighting equipment with the support of the Government of Sindh.
He said that, under the special directives of President Asif Ali Zardari and with the full support of the Sindh government, a multi-billion-rupee project had been launched to transform Karachi’s firefighting services. As part of the initiative, an international competitive bidding process had already been floated for the procurement of modern firefighting machinery and equipment, and the procurement process was expected to be completed in the near future.
The mayor further said that the upgraded fire stations would be equipped with modern facilities, including high-capacity water storage tanks capable of holding hundreds of thousands of gallons of water, solar-powered systems, and improved operational infrastructure to ensure uninterrupted emergency services.