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| Briefing in Presidency on mega development projects in Sindh |
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Friday, October 16, 2009
ISLAMABAD: A briefing was held in the Presidency on Thursday to review the progress made on various development projects in Sindh with President Asif Ali Zardari in the chair.
It was attended by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Water and Power Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, MNA Faryal Talpur, Secretary General to President, Provincial Ministers Murad Ali Shah and Jameel Soomro, Chief Secretary Sindh and federal and provincial secretaries of relevant ministries.
Briefing the journalists, spokesperson to the President former Senator Farhatullah Babar said the meeting was informed that work on the project of lining the distributaries and minors in the province had already been started. Over 100 channels, measuring 860 miles, are to be lined at a cost of Rs 14 billion in the next five years.
Work on 10 channels in Sukkur, Guddu and Kotri barrage areas had already been completed while work on 65 channels was in progress. Contracts for lining of 34 more channels were yet to be awarded.
The meeting was informed that Rs 1.2 billion, allocated for the year 2008-09 had been fully utilised. About the revamping of irrigation and drainage system in the province, the meeting was informed that in all 14 canal systems in the province had been selected for revamping. The project costing nearly Rs17 billion was approved by the ECNEC in November last and will be completed in eight years.
The meeting was informed that the project to carry the effluent of RBOD-1 to sea starting from Sehwan was expected to be completed by the year 2011. The extension RBOD is 273 kilometres and costs Rs 29 billion.
The president directed that extra care needs to be taken to ensure that the drainage effluent of the RBOD-I was taken to the sea so that the Mancher Lake and Kotri Barrage were not polluted.
The meeting was also briefed on the progress made on setting up of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto University and a medical college in Lyari in her memory. The medical college to be affiliated with the Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, will initially admit 100 students.
Project director for the college had already been appointed and Rs50 million provided through grant for establishing the college. The meeting was informed that the university will initially start functioning in the Government Degree College, Lyari, and offer bachelors and masters programs in social sciences, commerce, marine science and medicine. The president directed that legislation for establishment of the university be expedited. The meeting was also briefed on the Keenjhar Lake resort project and the proposed new city Zulfiqarbad in Sindh.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
