Building roads a top priority: minister

Karachi 

The development of road infrastructure remains one of the top most priorities of Sindh government for improving the socio-economic conditions of people and alleviate poverty and this was why it had been decided that around Rs4.5 billion will be reserved for repair of the broken road networks across the province, said finance minister Murad Ali Shah claimed while announcing the budget for FY 2016-17 on Saturday.

The budget allocated in the outgoing financial year was Rs3.7 billion, but for 2016-17, it has been enhanced to Rs4.5 billion.

Besides constructing new roads stretching over 2,600 kilometres the government has also improved road infrastructure over a distance of 2,300 kilometres, while allocating about Rs5 billion for the next fiscal year to improve the road network.

He further said that the proposed allocation in ADP for road networks in the upcoming financial year was Rs22.4 billion against Rs15.4 billion in 2015-16, a significant increase of 45 percent.

Moreover, several projects were also being executed with the assistance of foreign donor agencies while a total of 528.5 kilometres of rural access roads had been constructed with the assistance of Japanese government at a total cost of Rs8.87 billion. These roads, he mentioned, were spread across the entire province comprising districts Thatta, Dadu, Jamshoro, Hyderabad, Larkana, Kamber-Shahdadkot, Shikarpur, Khairpur, Jacobabad, Kashmore, Kandhkot and Sukkur.

The minister also pointed out that with the assistance of Chinese government, works and services department had initiated the rehabilitation/reconstruction of Nawabshah-Sanghar road that was 61 kilometres long and would be completed in two years at a cost of Rs2.09 billion.  The senior provincial minister mentioned that works and services department had also secured a loan of US $197.8 million from the Asian Development Bank for repairing six inter-city roads that were 328 kilometres long to and conforming them to international standards.

Under this scheme, it was said, the Sindh government had planned to construct 44-kilometre-long road from Saifal to Jacobabad, 36-kilometre-long road between SM Thahim to Ratodero, 64-kilometre-long road from Khyber to Sanghar via Tando Adam, 63-kilometre-long road from Sanghar to Mirpurkhas via Sindhri, 67-kilometre-long road from Tando Muhammad Khan to Badin and 55-kilometre-long road from Digri to Naukot.

Meanwhile, the minister said that the Hyderabad-Mirpurkhas Dual Carriageway would be built through a partnership agreement with a Korean firm, M/s Deokjae Connecting Roads (Pvt.) Ltd, while Jhirk Mullah Katiar Bridge project involved construction of 1.7-kilometre-long bridge and 17.2-kilometre-long  two lane approaches connecting National Highway (N-5) with Mirpur Bathoro-Tando Muhammad Khan Road.

He also highlighted that this was an ongoing project and would cost Rs4.537 billion and would be operational during the financial year 2016-17. Meanwhile, he claimed that Hyderabad-Tando Muhammad Khan Road (51.2 kilometre) was yet another project envisioned under Public-Private Partnership at an estimated cost of Rs5 billion. The spadework for the project was complete and investor solicitation would commence very soon.

The finance minister also claimed that the project of connecting Ghotki with Kandhkot through a bridge on River Indus estimated at a cost of Rs10 billion is also going to be undertaken as a PPP venture.

Transport

It was said the Sindh government plans to allocate around Rs9.9 million for transport and mass transit department as was committed to provide reliable and good quality transport, both private and public, at affordable costs in urban and rural areas of the province.

The ADPs for the next financial year are pitched at Rs3.2 billion, an increase of 6.7 percent over the ADPs of Rs3 billion of the outgoing financial year. The provincial government also intends to introduce Sindh Mass Transit Authority Bill for the creation of Sindh Mass Transit Authority to enhance the capacity of the department to conduct mass transit projects and to ensure transparency.

He further said that the BRT Yellow Line corridor is 26 kilometres in length with ridership of 150,000 passengers per day. The cost of the project was Rs16 billion with its route being between Dawood Chowrangi to Shahrah e Quaideen.

Meanwhile the BRT Orange Line project was being implemented from government’s own resources at an estimated cost of Rs2.35 billion. The corridor was 4.7 kilometres long, starting from TMA Office Orangi to Board Office Nazimabad.

He mentioned that the estimated ridership was 50,000 passengers per day and M/S NESPAK had been appointed as a consultant for the project.

The BRT Red Line corridor was 21.5 kilometres long with a ridership of 350,000 passengers per day and its route was from Model Colony to Peoples Chowrangi (Near Mazar-e-Quaid) via University Road. The estimated cost of this corridor was between Rs12 and 15 billion.

He also mentioned that the ADB had approved Rs1.296 million for preparing detail design of Red Line under its Project Design Advance (PDA) funding and is expected to be commissioned by 2018. An amount of Rs600 million has been allocated in ADP 2016-17.

He also informed the House that BRT Green Line began from Surjani Town and ended at Municipal Park MA Jinnah Road and was being being financed by the federal government at a cost of Rs16.085 billion.

Meanwhile, the Motor Vehicle Inspection and Certification Project had been undertaken in PPP mode of financing and at least five world leading companies participated in the first stage. The minister said the project would result in increase of revenues. Previously, this fee was collected by traffic police (Rs5.7 million) but now the collection had been enhanced to Rs26.7 million by the transport department.

Moreover, said the minister, in order to provide dedicated bus service for intercity operations, a scheme of induction of 200 buses for intercity have been included in the ADP 2016-17 with Rs500 million allocation.