Karachi : Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that in the newly unveiled Rs1.1 trillion Karachi development package, most of the projects are ongoing and funded by the provincial government, as his government is committed to developing the infrastructure, drainage, and the sewerage and mass transit systems of the city on a priority basis.
This he said while talking to media persons after inaugurating Manora Beach Road on Saturday.
He was accompanied by provincial ministers Shabir Bijarani and Syed Nasir Hussain Shah and law adviser Murtaza Wahab.
Commander Karachi Vice Admiral Zahid Ilyas, Commander Naval Police Commodore Rizwan Ahmed, Chairman P&D Mohammad Waseem, Karachi Commissioner Sohail Rajput, DG KDA Asif Ikram, MNAs Abdul Qadir Patel and Shahida Rehmani, MPA Liaquat Askani and others were also present on the occasion.
Replying to a question, he said, the Karachi package was not a new thing. “Most of the schemes are already ongoing, including those of which Sindh and federal governments have been sharing the cost such as K-IV, which is being transferred to the Centre for its completion,” he said.
To another question, the CM said he was surprised to know that the federal government was holding his government responsible for power and gas outages in Karachi.
“The federal government is controlling power and gas- generating and distributing companies, and they are responsible to provide uninterrupted power and gas supplies,” he said and added that just to hide their inefficiency, the federal government was blaming the provincial government, which was quite surprising for him.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the six-kilometre-long Manora Beach Road, the CM said that it had been constructed from Kakapir to the Y-junction for Rs456.64 million.
“I am proud to say that it is the first scheme of the newly created district of Keamari being launched today,” he said and declared Keamari as a model district in Karachi division.
Shah also announced the construction of a road from Gulbai to HawksBay and vowed to resolve the issues of water, sanitation and infrastructure of the new district.
Talking about the Manora Road scheme, he said that the project was a part of an overall scheme for the improvement of waterfront development to be made available for the public of Karachi. “At present, the Manora beach is underutilised, there is very low volume of visitors due to paucity of facilities like sitting spaces, dining areas, rest rooms, shades and tidiness,” he said.
