Hyderabad's development push runs in circles
The Sindh government's Public Sector Development Programme (PSPD) for fiscal 2026-27 has planned to inject tens of billions of rupees on the roads, water supply, drainage, irrigation and other schemes in Hyderabad. The Sindh Local Government Department alone has proposed allocation of around Rs9 billion on some 105 schemes for the province's second largest city where the citizens have so far witnessed only short-lived benefits of the infrastructure development.
The SLGD has earmarked about Rs6 billion for 27 schemes worth between Rs100 million to Rs710 million for Hyderabad. Another sum of approximately Rs3 billion will be spent on 78 projects with less than Rs100 million allocation. The biggest amount of financing has been secured by the partial ring road project stretching to 13 kilometers from Autobahn Road to Hala Naka intersection in the city outskirts.
The project's initial cost of Rs2.3 billion was revised in 2024 to Rs3.2 billion. On May 18, the provincial government almost tripled that expected expenditures on the scheme to Rs5.87 billion while the budget earmarked Rs709.169 million for 2026-27. The work's progress by the end of June will be 51% with the completion deadline extended to June 2028, which may entail another revision in the cost.
The SLGD also plans to invest Rs2.186 billion on the construction of an underpass and link roads in addition to the beautification works at Qasim Chowk, which falls under the jurisdiction of Cantonment Board of Hyderabad. An initial sum of Rs546.581 million, or 25%, will be released for the scheme in the next fiscal.
Another important road, having a length of above one kilometer and which connects Thandi Sarak with an underpass in Latifabad unit number 7, in the CBH's area will receive Rs519.301 million funds from the local government. The total cost of the road's widening works is Rs1.038 billion and it is expected to complete before June, 2027. As many as 33 schemes in the SLGD's allocation pertain to roads and streets which will be built or repaired with asphalt and cemented blocks.
Filtration plants
The citizens in most parts of Hyd always complain of suffering water scarcity even though the city is located on the left bank of river Indus whose three canals also flow through this city.
The government, on its part, is trying to offer a solution to the problem by constructing small-capacity filtre plants processing five to six million gallons per day. The SLGD has earmarked Rs336.515 million for laying a 32-inch diameter pipeline supplying water from 6MGD plant in Latifabad unit number 4. Likewise, Rs125 will be spent on laying a pipeline from Khanpota filtre plant to Deh Shah Bukhari in Qasimabad.
Hyderabad Water and Sewerage Corporation's 5MGD plant in Ghangra Mori area is undergoing a capacity upgrade to 10 MGD at the cost of Rs1.33 billion. However, a paltry amount of Rs12.441 million has been set aside for this project whose progress is expected to show only one per cent increase to 80% in 2026-27.