CM for prioritising flood-hit areas in next ADP

Says govt has to resolve transport issue of Karachi by completing BRT projects

KARACHI:

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has directed his planning and development team to prioritise the rehabilitation of flood-affected people, repair and maintenance of the infrastructure devastated by the recent floods, and prepare a plan for the development of agricultural and industrial sectors.

"We have to resolve the transport issue of Karachi by completing different BRT projects in the next financial year," he said and directed his team to make necessary financial allocations accordingly. He issued these directives while presiding over a meeting at the CM House which was convened to draw up the Annual Development Program (ADP) for the next financial year-2023-24.

Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput, Chairman P&D Hassan Naqvi, Finance Secretary Sajid Jamal Abro, Secretary to CM Rahim Shaikh, Member P&D Fatah Tunio, and others official attended the meeting. It was pointed out that during the current financial year (2022-23) 4,158 schemes - 2,506 ongoing and 1,652 new - were launched at the cost of Rs332.165 billion, but the allocation was revised to Rs267.652 billion against which Rs181.8 has been released. The expenditures against the released amount have been recorded at Rs126.228 billion.

The CM directed the P&D Department to complete at least 800 schemes by the end of the current financial year. He gave guidelines to the P&D for finalising the ADP for the next fiscal, saying that priority would be given to the schemes of infrastructure damaged by the devastating floods. "I want to repair and reconstruct the school buildings, hospitals, roads, and irrigation network, so that they could be made functional," he said.

The chief minister said that the ongoing transport schemes for Karachi have to be completed and new schemes have to be launched during the next financial year to resolve the transport issue of the metropolitan city. "The P&D Department must propose allocation of funds as local share for such foreign-funded transport schemes," he said.

P&D Department Chairman Hassan Naqvi, while briefing the CM, said that six new World Bank-funded schemes and one of the Asian Development Bank have been approved. They include Rs48 billion Sindh Flood Emergency Rehabilitation Project, Rs110 billion Sindh Flood Emergency Housing Reconstruction Project, Rs64 billion Sindh Water & Agriculture Transformation Project, Rs55 billion Sindh Integrated Health & Population Project, Rs42 billion Strengthening the Social Delivery Protection System, and Rs43.9 billion Sindh Flood Emergency Assistance Project by Asian Development Bank.

The chief minister directed the P&D Department to expedite the completion of the required formalities of the Rs600 billion Karachi Water & Sewerage Service Improvement project, so that the water board services could be improved. He also discussed the foreign-funded projects in the pipeline. He also directed all the departments to file their proposed schemes with the P&D, so that they could be included in the next ADP.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 5^th, 2023.