Govt, private sector to jointly work on health, education projects

Various projects related to the education, health, infrastructure and agriculture sectors were approved by the provincial policy board for public private partnership (PPP) in its 27th meeting held on Thursday.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah presided over the meeting that approved various projects to be launched under the PPP mode. The school education department discussed the prospects of entering into a contract with education management organisations (EMOs) to manage and improve the functioning of the Teacher Training Institute, Hussainabad, Karachi through introducing innovations, modernising the education system, addressing management gaps and upgrading the institute’s building and facilities.

It is not enough that teachers are punctual, the CM said, adding that teachers must be professional enough to take their classes. “We have to strengthen and improve our teachers' training institutes in partnership with the private sector,” he asserted.

The CM said the private management which would be selected through a competitive process to manage the training institutes should have the authority to appoint professional trainers for teachers’ training. He added that the government would pay the salaries of the teachers and other staff and the private partner would be responsible for running the training institute on a professional basis.

The policy board approved transferring the management of the training institute to a private partner. Education Secretary Qazi Shahid Parvez presented another project of the Sindh Basic Education Programme related to 25 schools that were constructed by the provincial government and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in the flood-affected areas of the province.

The education department proposed to operate the schools through the PPP mode by well-reputed EMOs which would be selected through a competitive process. The policy board approved to issue the letter of award (LOA) in this regard.

The meeting also discussed the proposed transfer of 37 schools in Islamkot to the Thar Foundation. The CM expressed satisfaction over the proposal, stating that the Thar Foundation was a major partner of the provincial government. The board approved the hiring of a professional transaction adviser or consultant for the project.

Blood centres

The health department informed the meeting that four state-of-the-art regional blood centres in Sukkur, Jamshoro, Shaheed Benazirabad and Karachi districts had been established with the assistance of the German Development Bank and it had been proposed to contract them out to private partners through a proper procedure.

The health department had decided to hand the blood centre in Jamshoro over to the Indus Hospital, and the one in Sukkur to the Sukkur Blood and Drug Donating Society.

It had also been decided that the blood centres in Karachi and Shaheed Benazirabad districts would be handed over to Dr Ziauddin Hospital and Fatimid Foundation respectively. The PPP policy board approved the transfers of the blood centres to the private partners.

The board also decided to offer the security contract of the National Institute of Child Health to a private body and invite fresh bids for the purpose. The meeting also discussed problems being faced by District Headquarter Hospital (DHQ) Badin, which was being run by the Indus Hospital under the PPP mode. The policy board approved to give one-time grant of Rs1.08 billion to the hospital so that it could meet necessary requirements of equipment and works.

Ghotki-Kandhkot Bridge

The PPP policy board also discussed the project to construct a bridge on the Indus River joining Ghotki and Kandhkot. Ghotki, which is an emerging industrial area, and Kandhkot, which is located on the proposed Pak-China Economic Corridor, are on the opposite sides of the river, the CM said.

The meeting was informed that the distance between Kandhkot and Ghotki via Guddu Barrage was 151 kilometres (km), which was quite long. If a bridge was constructed on the river, the distance between them would reduce to only 30 km.

Formalities for the construction of the bridge were almost complete, the meeting was told. The board gave its consent for finalising the process.

Mango processing unit

The agriculture department presented a proposal for establishing a mango processing unit on Hyderabad-Mirpurkhas road. The proposed unit would have the facilities of mechanised washing and grading, blast chillers, packaging and labelling, quality control lab and others, and would cost over Rs1.5 billion.

The policy board directed the department to re-tender the project and select the successful bidder. The meeting took decisions related to technical aspects of the Malir Expressway. It also decided to invite fresh bids for the Blue Line Bus Rapid Transit project in Karachi.

The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, provincial ministers Dr Azra Pechuho, Syed Sardar Ali Shah, Mohammad Ismail Rahu, Saeed Ghani, Owais Shah, Planning and Development Board Chairman Mohammad Waseem, Principal Secretary to the CM Sajid Jamal Abro and others.