France offers assistance for desalination plant
A boy whose family became displaced walks with a water bottle on his head, following rains and floods during the monsoon season in Sehwan, Pakistan September 13, 2022. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro
France has offered to assist Sindh government in setting up desalination plant in Karachi and reverse osmosis filtration plants in various neighborhoods in the provincial capital and rural areas.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah in his meeting with the Ambassador of France Nicolas Galey and Consul General in Karachi Alexis Chahtahtinsky discussed the possibility of French support for water supply, RO plants technology for Karachi and cooperation between Tando Jam Agriculture University and universities and institutes teaching agriculture in France. The chief minister and the ambassador also agreed to work to develop the province’s dairy industry on modern lines.
Shah said that French expertise in water supply systems, RO and desalination plant was well-known across the world.
“We are working hard to meet the water requirement of the megalopolis city of Karachi by installing RO and desalination plants to convert sea water for drinking purposes,” he said.
The French ambassador said that he would support the Sindh government by bringing experts from France to guide and support the provincial government to develop a workable and decent water supply system, including the installation of desalination plants. The French envoy said that their agriculture universities doing a wonderful job in agricultural research and the same was being applied in the field.
Seeds for flood-hit growers
CM Murad presiding over two separate meetings of the Planning & Development Board and Agriculture Department approved Rs7 billion for the provision of wheat and oil seeds to the growers. “We have to encourage the growers to prepare their flooded lands for Rabi crops, therefore we have to support them,” he told the meeting attended by CM Advisor Agriculture Manzoor Wassan, Minister Food & Excise Mukesh Chawla, Chairman P&D Hassan Naqvi, PSCM Fayaz Jatoi, and Secretary Agriculture Aijaz Mahesar.
Wassan said that around 369,400 hectares of land was ready for wheat cultivation. He added that the growers should be given the seed of wheat and oils seeds for cultivation.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 14th, 2022.