PHOTO: NNI
Speaking at a news conference, Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar and Maritime Affairs Minister Syed Ali Zaidi, along with Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, called for setting aside political differences for the wellbeing of people.
Umar vowed to complete the ongoing development projects in the province, though he didn’t give a deadline. The presser came following a meeting which reviewed the pace of work on the Karachi Development Package announced by the PTI government.
Umar mentioned the Green Line bus and the K-IV water supply mega projects, saying the Centre has released funds to expedite work on these projects. He announced that Prime Minister Imran Khan would inaugurate some projects in Karachi in the second week of February.
On the Centre’s relations with Sindh government, he said: “Politics is not being done by any party on matters related to public wellbeing” and claimed that the required funds had been handed over the province.
“There are serious differences between the Sindh and federal governments but politics will not come in the way of public welfare," Umar said, adding that he expected the same from the Sindh government.
Umar said the Centre had expedited the pace of work on the development projects in Karachi. He mentioned that a facilitation agreement would be signed with the Sindh government on the Green Line project.
Speaking about another mega project for Karachi, K-IV, Umar said the Centre had already released it share in the project of Rs13 billion. Currently, the design change of the project is being reviewed by the provincial government.
K-IV was jointly developed by the provincial and federal governments to augment Karachi’s daily water supply. The project, which would extract water from Keenjhar Lake through three water canals, has been designed to provide 650 million gallons of water daily to the city in three phases.
Umar and Governor Ismail attributed delay in the scheme to change in the route of the supply system by the National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK). Umar said a technical committee of the Sindh government was reviewing the project and would present its report to the Centre.
“The federal government is keen to help get it materialised and we are currently waiting for the Sindh government’s final report on K-4 scheme,” he said. “We are ready to execute the much-needed water project and are just waiting for Sindh government’s report,” he said.
Speaking on at the news conference, Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Zaidi referred to the steps being taken to address traffic congestion in Karachi as well as sea pollution that has emerged as a serious challenge to the port operations.
“The Karachi Port Trust (KPT) has managed to significantly clean, by almost 75%, the local waters from floating garbage and a plan has been chalked out to stop flow of waste from the Lyari River and other sources to the sea,” he said. “We want to recycle the water and use it for greenery of Karachi.”
Zaidi said that the freight corridor project would cost an estimated $40 million. ”This project will be completed in one year,” he said. “We have conducted studies with the help of the World Bank, and working on plan to reduce the pressure of traffic on the city roads.
Zaidi told reporters that every day 18,000 trucks ply to and from the port, which not only created logjam at the port but also on the city roads. "The port has the capacity to handle 150 million metric tons cargo daily but the possible logjam reduces its workload to 40-44 million metric tons.
Sindh’s rejoinder
Reacting to the ministers’ news conference, Sindh Transport Minister Awais Qadir Shah doubted the federal government’s “intentions” to work with the provincial government despite its repeated claims.
“For the past two years, Imran Khan and Asad Umar have been saying that they need to do something for Karachi but have done nothing so far. Neither will they do anything for Sindh nor would they give the required funds to the province,” he said in a statement.
Shah was also critical of Umar’s announcement of inauguration of projects next months. He said the Green Line project was still incomplete but the ministers had announced its inauguration by the prime minister.
Commenting on Umar’s statement that the federal government would appoint a focal person for the projects in Karachi, Shah advised the federal government to make Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah the “captain” of these projects for their completion.
Wednesday’s meeting came days after Bilawal Bhutto offered the MQM-P ministries in Sindh in return for its help to oust the PTI government at the Centre. Shah claimed that the federal government had given nothing but “lollypops” to both its allies, the MQM-P and the GDA.
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