Federal govt not serious about development of Sindh: Murad

The federal government is not interested in the development of Sindh, which is why almost all the federally-funded projects in the province have either been abandoned or put on the back-burner, said Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Friday.

Presiding over a meeting to review the progress of Nai Gaj Dam, Darawat Dam and rehabilitation of Sukkur Barrage, the CM said that in this state of affairs the province was left with no option but to raise its voice at appropriate forums in the first phase, and if their voice is not heeded, then stage protests in the assemblies.

Member Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) Nisar Khuhro, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, P&D Chairman Mohammad Waseem, Special Assistant to CM on Irrigation Ashfaq Memon, Principal Secretary to CM Sajid Jamal Abro, Special Secretary Agriculture Shakeel Shaikh, Special Secretary Irrigation Aslam Ansari and other concerned officers attended the meeting.

CM Shah said that the federal government has taken out the important project of Sukkur Barrage Rehabilitation & Modernisation from its PSDP and surrendered its Rs100 million to the Ministry of Planning & Reforms which was an injustice with the people of Sindh. “Sukkur Barrage is the lifeline of our agro-economy and the provincial government had gotten approval for the project from the federal government after hectic efforts,” he lamented.

At this, Planning and Development Chairman Mohammad Waseem told the chief minister that he had conveyed annoyance of the CM to the federal government and now they have sent a letter to him for re-adjustment of the Sukkur Barrage scheme.

Shah took up another scheme of Nai Gaj Dam and said it was launched by the federal government for Rs16.9 billion in 2009 with the objective to conserve water resources for the irrigated agricultural development, protection from flood waters and hydropower generation. The construction of the dam was for arrest of flood water flowing through Nai Gaj Hill torrent so that 22,962 hectares of land could be irrigated.

Shah said that in 2009 the cost of the project was Rs16.9 billion, of which Rs1.56 billion was provincial government’s share for rehabilitation component. The scheme was revised in 2012 at a cost of Rs26.23 billion in which the provincial government’s share was fixed at Rs1.89 billion. The second revision was made in January 2019 for Rs41.79 billion and now the federal government was asking the Sindh government to pay Rs22 billion as its share. “This is not possible for us and we are of the view that the federal government must complete its projects it has launched in Sindh,” Shah said.

He urged Nisar Khuhro, who is Sindh’s ECNEC member, to discuss the issue in the ECNEC meeting to be held in Islamabad on January 23. “Our stance is clear and convey it frankly.” The Nai Gaj project is located in Jamshoro District and it flows from hill and drains from Manchhar Lake after flowing through the arid zone of Kachho.

The Darawat Dam was another project discussed in the meeting. The project is located as a concrete Gravity Dam across Nai Baran River near Jhangri village of Taluka Thano Bolakhan, Jamshoro.

The federal government had launched this project for Rs3.17 billion in 2010 for storage of 150 Million Cubic Metres of water to irrigate 10,000 hectares. Its completion date was supposed to be August 2014.

CM Shah said that the second revised cost of the project stood at Rs11.7 billion but the project is yet to be completed. “This slow pace shows that the federal government is not serious to complete its projects in Sindh,” he said.

The CM further said that the other slow moving projects were RBOD-I & II and Rainee Canal. He added that the federal government should allocate 1,200 cusecs (650 MGD) additional water for Karachi city.