Sindh left out as federal delegation heads to China for KCR discussions

The Centre has completely ignored the Sindh government in the much-awaited revival of Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) as a high-level federal government delegation will be leaving for China this week to discuss the project sans any representatives from the provincial government, The News has learnt.

According to sources familiar with the matter, Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has taken notice of his government’s non-inclusion in the delegation and sent a letter to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to express his disappointment. Shah has also demanded that the KCR project be started in the city along the lines of the Orange train line in Lahore and Green bus line in Karachi.

The letter sent by Sindh planning and development secretary to Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqi, the federal planning, development and reforms secretary, states: “I would like to invite your attention to your letter dated Jan 8, 2018 on the subject of CPEC whereby senior level delegation of the federal government secretaries led by Pakistan Ambassador to China has been nominated to visit Beijing to meet the officials of National Development and Reforms Commission China to fast track CPEC project financing mechanism in pursuance to discussion of Jan 7.”

The CM has taken a serious note of the exclusion of Sindh government members in the meeting of fast tracking CPEC projects, especially KCR, it added. In the letter, the CM said that earlier the vice-chairman of NDRC had promised funding and that promise should be fulfilled.

Last January, the federal government had decided to include KCR in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. It should be noted that on August 17, 2017, CM Shah had directed the transport department float tenders for the KCR project so that it could be started in the same year by December 25, the Quaid-e-Azam’s birthday.