'Provincial govt focusing on energy, public-private partnership'

Chief minister addresses Sindh Development Forum 2018

KARACHI: The Sindh government is now focusing on energy, public-private partnership-based projects, regional development and eliminating injustice.

Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said this while addressing the Sindh Development Forum 2018, organised on Wednesday by the planning and development department under the banner of 'Partnership for Development towards Thriving and Prosperous Sindh'.

Shah termed the last decade of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)-led government in Sindh an era of peace and prosperity. "When we [started to rule], we faced enormous challenges of law and order, rising inequity and poverty, and weakening of the federation," he said, adding that terrorism and sectarian violence posed a major threat to law and order.

"We feel pride in saying that [law and order has been restored], as a result of which the confidence of business community and foreign investors has been regained, which can be observed through improved economic conditions and Chinese interest in the special economic zones in Sindh," the CM said.



According to him, a major challenge that the PPP government had to deal with was the commodity price shock of the mid-2000s, which pushed many people below the poverty line, especially farmers. He said the right response was to come up with social safety net and that was what the government did. "It is no secret that the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) is the flagship social safety net in Pakistan," he said.

Shah said that sustainable decline in poverty could only be realised through a bottom up approach and that was why the government started investing in community development for poverty reduction.

"It should be noted that community development is not politically attractive as its positive effects manifest only after a long gestation period. However, despite the political risks, the government started the programme and it has been a great success and now the federal government has [sought our] help in replicating the programme in other parts of country, he said.

He went on to say that he believed in a strong federation but was also clear that the strength of federation lay in fair distribution of resources among the federating units. If there is inequity in resource distribution, the federation weakens, he said, adding that it was the PPP government achieved the devolution of resources against all odds and resistance from those who wanted to perpetuate the concentration of resources.



Commenting on the Thar coal project, the CM said it was almost a forsaken project that had been revived by his government. The premise of energy sovereignty of Pakistan was based on Thar coal deposits, he claimed, adding that "the whole idea of energy related China-Pakistan Economic Corridor investment would not have found firm ground if the Thar coal fields were not developed".

According to him, the government was working hard to acquire resources from various avenues, particularly through public-private partnership. Projects such as the road leading to Thar field, Jhirk Mullah Katiar Bridge on the Indus River, Hyderabad-Mirpurkhas dual carriageway and Sindh Education Foundation were all achieved through public-private partnership, he said. "We know that we have resource gaps and capacity issues and this is the very reason for holding the forum," he said.

As many as 19 country heads of different donor agencies participated in the forum. Planning and Development Minister Saeed Ghani and Planning and Development Board Chairperson Mohammad Waseem also attended.