Hyderabad-Sukkur motorway to soon become reality: minister

Murad Saeed says bids have been received for project

KARACHI:

Federal Minister of Communication and Postal Services Murad Saeed said on Saturday that bids for the motorway's Hyderabad-Sukkur section have been received and soon Prime Minister Imran Khan would perform the groundbreaking ceremony of the project.

Murad Saeed, while addressing a press conference here at the Sindh Assembly building, along with leader of the opposition Haleem Adil Sheikh and other elected representatives of PTI, said that Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway would be the first one initiated by the PTI government.

"It will be a gift for the people of Sindh," he said. The federal minister added that the Centre was working on a number of highways and roads in Sindh to ensure better communication and transportation facilities for the masses. The Green Line of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system would be inaugurated in December and the people of Karachi would be able to avail better commuting facilities which they had been vying for, he announced.

The minister continued that another important project, the 786 kilometer-long Karachi-Quetta-Chaman highway, entered its advanced stages and construction work would start shortly. The federal minister stated that the Centre was also playing its role in the completion of the Karachi Circular Railway, while several roads and streets were completed in the city through federal funding.

Another road project was completed in Umerkot district which would be inaugurated on Sunday, the minister stated. Murad Saeed said people in Sindh were suffering due to bad governance and corruption of PPP's provincial government, while democratic norms were being undermined by self-proclaimed "champions of democracy".

He said the party which taught lessons of democracy in the National Assembly and Senate was denting democratic principles in Sindh by constraining the opposition from playing its role in the provincial assembly.

"It is regrettable that opposition parties in Sindh are deprived even of membership in the Public Accounts Committee and standing committees, while Shahbaz Sharif was made chairman PAC although he was accused of corruption, he remarked.

The minister, while condemning the brutal killings of Fahmida Sial, Nazim Jokhio and Sakhawat Rajput, said that the law and order situation in Sindh was out of control as people were murdered by influential persons. Um-e-Rabab was another example of injustice in Sindh as her father and other family members were assassinated, while she remained on a quest for justice.

Saeed also accused PPP of obstructing federal-funded projects in Sindh and said that provincial government raised objections on projects of education and health under the MNA fund on the pretext of the 18th amendment and provincial autonomy.

"On the other hand, the same Sindh government attempted to deprive local government institutions from their constitutional rights and responsibilities," he said. The minister added Article 140-A of the Constitution, that provided for financial, administrative and political empowerment of LG bodies, was violated in Sindh.

He said Prime minister Imran Khan was planning to introduce electronic voting (EVM) to ensure transparent and fair elections, while PPP wanted secret balloting in the LG system to facilitate rigging and to launch unelected people of their choice.

The minister said that health, education, law and order and all other sectors were destroyed in Sindh where hospitals lack doctors, medicines and ambulance and schools were missing teachers and furniture. "PTI has introduced historical reforms in police, education, environment and health sectors in Khyber=Pakhtunkhwa and put the terrorism-hit province on the path of progress and prosperity. He stated that adding that every citizen in K-P had access to better health facilities through health cards, while the same facility was also provided to the masses in Punjab, Gilgit-Baltistan and Tharparkar district of Sindh.

Murad Saeed said that wheat flour and sugar was more expensive in Sindh due to the erroneous policies and corrupt practices of the PPP Sindh government. Responding to a query about improvement of the Indus Highway, the communication minister said that zero progress was made on the project till 2018, but PTI, after attaining power, started work on the project and motorway police was also deputed on the highway.

"Completion of the project will be achieved soon," he added. Murad Saeed, while replying to a question about Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway M9, said the communication ministry was in contact with the Sindh government to improve the M9.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th, 2021.