‘Sindh govt committed to development of Karachi’

KARACHI: The Planning & Development Department, Government of Sindh (GoS), has clarified that the provincial government is equally committed to the development of the province and its capital Karachi as a liveable, competitive and modern city of the world.

The Sindh government’s statement issued on Tuesday claims that during the meetings between the federal and provincial governments, the words “Karachi Transformation Plan” were not mentioned at all.

The Revival of Karachi Circular Railway is a flagship project of the Sindh government, included in the CPEC framework on December 29, 2016 during the 6th Joint Coordination Committee meeting held in Beijing, at the request of Chief Minister, Sindh.

The PC-I of KCR was approved by ECNEC on October 6, 2017 at a total cost of $1.971 billion (Pak Rs. 207.6 billion). Moreover, the Transport and Mass Transit Department, Government of Sindh, was declared as the sponsoring and executing agency for the project.

The KCR got stalled due to lack of interest of the federal government to fulfil its responsibilities towards the project. The GoS has repeatedly asked the federal government to lend its support for this project and the chief minister has written several letters for the purpose. The federal government was asked to provide sovereign guarantee (as done for the Lahore Orange Train project), transfer of Karachi Urban Transport Corporation to the GoS, right of way for the project and facilitation with regards to CPEC issues.

The GoP had agreed to provide all the support in December 2016.Furthermore, the provincial government emphasized that the part of the Bahria Town Settlement Funds (up to Rs125 bn) expected to be available during next three-years are in lieu of land of the provincial government, therefore, the said contribution is deemed to be that of the Government of Sindh rather than the federal government.

It is, however, once again emphasized that the Sindh government welcomes the support of the federal government for the development of Karachi. The clarifications are meant to remove misconceptions arising due to the statements in the media, the statement concluded.