ECNEC meeting: Sindh gets to build Makhi Farash link canal
‘The government would not be able to generate electricity from (Thar) coal without it’.
KARACHI:
The federal government approved the Makhi Farash (link canal) irrigation and water supply scheme, worth Rs27 billion, during a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council held in Islamabad on Thursday. In total, nine projects specific to Sindh were approved.
Federal Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh presided over the meeting. Sindh government officials, including Finance Minister Murad Ali Shah, adviser to the chief minister on planning and development Dr Kaiser Bengali and additional chief secretary (development) Ishaq Lashari, attended the meeting.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Dr Bengali said that they persuaded the federal government to approve the scheme because it was necessary to provide water to the Thar coal fields. “Otherwise it would not be possible for the government to generate electricity from coal,” he said.
The federal government has approved around 50 projects of which nine projects, worth about Rs95 billion, belong to Sindh. Irrigation and road sector projects, worth Rs43 billion, which would be financed by the Asian Development Bank, have also been approved.
Dr Bengali added that other issues would be taken up at the National Economic Council meeting to be held on May 28.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 27th, 2011.
The federal government approved the Makhi Farash (link canal) irrigation and water supply scheme, worth Rs27 billion, during a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council held in Islamabad on Thursday. In total, nine projects specific to Sindh were approved.
Federal Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh presided over the meeting. Sindh government officials, including Finance Minister Murad Ali Shah, adviser to the chief minister on planning and development Dr Kaiser Bengali and additional chief secretary (development) Ishaq Lashari, attended the meeting.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Dr Bengali said that they persuaded the federal government to approve the scheme because it was necessary to provide water to the Thar coal fields. “Otherwise it would not be possible for the government to generate electricity from coal,” he said.
The federal government has approved around 50 projects of which nine projects, worth about Rs95 billion, belong to Sindh. Irrigation and road sector projects, worth Rs43 billion, which would be financed by the Asian Development Bank, have also been approved.
Dr Bengali added that other issues would be taken up at the National Economic Council meeting to be held on May 28.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 27th, 2011.