Governor announces four new federally-funded projects for Karachi

Sindh Governor Mohammad Zubair on Wednesday announced four big development projects for Karachi under a special package of the federal government for the economic hub of the country.

Speaking at a press conference, he said the ground-breaking of these proposed development projects would be performed in the coming weeks in the presence of the city’s mayor. The projects include the construction of three flyovers at a total cost of Rs2.35 billion at the intersections of Sakhi Hassan, Five Star Chowrangi and the Board Office, the construction of Manghopir Road in two phases at a cost of Rs3.5 billion, a 860-million-rupee project for Nishtar Road, and a Rs1.9 billion project to revamp the firefighting system of the city.

The governor said that the federal government would carry out the development projects, including the one meant to revamp firefighting system, as they were duly identified by the mayor.

He said the firefighting system would be revamped through the procurement of fire tenders, related gadgets and equipment by the government. He mentioned that the funds for the big development projects had been duly approved and reserved by all the relevant forums of the federal government.

Besides the four projects, the federal government would also fund the construction of a hospital and a medical college at the University of Karachi with a cost of Rs 860 million, he said. However, Zubair said, approval for this project was yet to be given by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council.

Last September, he said, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had visited Karachi and announced a special development package for the city. He said the package was meant to provide due civic relief to the residents of Karachi and also to improve business, municipal and industrial infrastructure.

The governor added that the federal government was well- prepared to announce many more multi-billion- development projects for Karachi to improve its roads, water supply and sanitation system, but the government could not announce these schemes owing to a ban imposed by the Election Commission of Pakistan on announcing new development projects before the coming general elections.

Zubair said that the next elected federal government would announce these development projects for Karachi. After the adoption of the 18th Constitutional Amendment, he said, the provincial governments were fully responsible for carrying out development projects, but the centre was funding the projects in Karachi under its vision to develop all parts of the country on a uniform basis.

The governor noted that the government had invested five billion dollars to extract Thar coal and generate electricity with it. He said the construction of power generation projects of 1,320 megawatts had been completed at Port Qasim in Karachi.

He said that Sindh and its people lagged much behind the other provinces in the arena of civic development, but the federal government was fully assisting the development of Sindh on a fast-track basis.

He maintained that the provincial governments were fully responsible to handle the affairs related to the health, education and civic development sectors, but federal government had been supporting Sindh in all these vital social sectors.

He said the federal government also extended support for the construction of the K-IV bulk water supply scheme for Karachi, the Green Line section of Rapid Bus Transit Service, the Lyari Expressway and the M-9 section of the motorway between Karachi and Hyderabad.

To a question, he said that rival political parties should promote affinity and fraternal relations with one another for the sake of maintaining peace and law and order in the city that had been restored after consistent efforts and numerous sacrifices of law-enforcement personnel.