Road to development cut short

The government fails to introduce any mega infrastructure project for the province.

KARACHI: Contrary to expectations, Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) government did not announce a single mega road project for the province. It was being speculated that the government would try to replicate the development ushered in by a web of new roads laid by its arch rival, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in Punjab over the last five years. The government, however, took everyone by surprise by actually reducing the budget.

The provincial government constructed 1,067 kilometres of roads across Sindh at a cost of Rs18,751 million in fiscal year 2012-13 whereas it has set a target of adding 1,000 kilometres to the existing network for the current fiscal year. An amount of Rs17,351 million has been set aside for the same.



The government also claimed that it rebuilt a total of 474 kilometres of roads and intends to get 450 kilometres in shape this year.

According to the Sindh Works and Service department, the total road network in Sindh, including the federal roads, is around 36,500 kilometres in length which is much below the benchmark level of one kilometre for every square kilometre of territory. Going by that ratio, the road network needs to be 140,900 kilometres, which, going by the current pace, would take several terms to achieve.

Rural road construction project

Besides the urban centres, the government plans to build 500 km of roads in the rural areas with the assistance of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The government claimed that 60 per cent of the work under this scheme would be completed soon.

Karachi gets three mega projects

The burgeoning population of Karachi has stretched its infrastructure facilities to its limits. Keeping this in view, the Sindh government has earmarked three mega projects for the city covering transport, sewerage disposal and water availability to address the situation.

The oft-talked Karachi Circular Railway will be implemented with assistance from JICA to ease the traffic flow. The 41.12 km dual track would cost an estimated Rs2.6 billion

For sewerage disposal, the government has allocated Rs1,040 million for the S-III project. The government believes that the project will have immense environmental and health related benefits. The government intends to solve the perennial problem of water shortage by completing the K-IV project. A sum of Rs1,000 million has been set aside for the project, expected to bring in additional 260 million gallons of water per day for the city.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 18^th, 2013.