The Senate Standing Committee on Planning, Development and Special Initiatives on Thursday expressed serious concern over delays, cost overruns, and poor coordination between federal and provincial authorities on major infrastructure projects in Sindh. The projects under review included the Karachi bulk water supply K-IV scheme, the ML-1 railway upgrade, and key motorway initiatives.
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The meeting, held at the Sindh Secretariat, was chaired by Senator Qurat-ul-Ain Marri and attended by committee members including Jam Saifullah Khan, Atta-ur-Rehman, Dost Ali Jaiser, Zameer Hussain Ghumro and Ashraf Ali Jatoi. Sadia Abbasi joined the proceedings online.
🇵🇰🇵🇰🇵🇰 Senate Standing Committee on Planning, Development and Special Initiatives under the chairpersonship of Senator Quratulain Marri met in Karachi; Briefed on Ongoing PSDP Projects in Sindh.@GovtofPakistan@GovtofSindhPK @PlanComPakistan #Senate #Pakistan #PSDP 🇵🇰 pic.twitter.com/ALUicOZl6T
— ꜱᴇɴᴀᴛᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴘᴀᴋɪꜱᴛᴀɴ 🇵🇰 (@SenatePakistan) December 18, 2025
Senator Marri strongly criticised the exclusion of the Sindh government from the approval process of the Thar Coal Rail Connectivity project. She questioned why the province was not consulted despite being a partner and asked for accountability for the cost escalation from Rs53 billion to Rs90 billion. The committee tasked Jam Saifullah Khan with identifying responsible officials and demanded a comprehensive report within a month.
The ML-1 railway project, facing delays since 2015, is expected to move forward once financial assistance from the Asian Development Bank is secured. Sindh Planning and Development Board Chairman Najam Shah highlighted pending no-objection certificates for overhead bridges and railway crossings, which the committee directed Pakistan Railways to issue promptly.
Updates were also given on the Karachi Green Line BRT, Thar Coal Railway, M-6 Motorway, and Tando Allahyar–Rohri road projects, with some expected to be completed by June 2026. The committee noted delays in the release of federal funds to Sindh for two consecutive quarters and urged the Finance Division to expedite disbursement.
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Chairperson Marri emphasised the importance of timely completion for the K-IV water supply project, noting it is a World Bank condition, and instructed federal and provincial irrigation authorities to convene a meeting with consultants and the Water and Power Development Authority to resolve pending issues.