Daily Times

Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murtad Ali Shah told the Asian Development Bank (ADB) that, after education, his top priorities were water, sanitation, urban transport and improvement of road network and his government can be assisted according to these set priorities.

The CM said this while holding a meeting with a delegation of Asian Development Bank led by Central West Asian Department (CWRD) Director General (DG), Mr Werner Liepach.

“The overall improvement of social sector is need of hour, therefore we are focusing on it,” CM Murad informed ADB representatives. Murad Ali Shah said that his government had conceived a plan to install desalination plant to provide drinking water to the people of the megapolis. He added a similar water supply and drainage schemes were being planned for other districts of the province also.

On this, the Asian Bank DG assured CM Murad of technical and financial support. It was then agreed that the provincial government through Planning and Development (P&D) department would provide details of the proposed desalination plants, water and drainage schemes to the ADB.

P&D Chairman Mohammad Waseem told the meeting that under the ADB sponsored Sindh Provincial Improvement Program (SPRIP) of $227.5 million (mn), six roads spanning over 328 km had been constructed in Badin, TM Khan, Matiari, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Jacobabad, Kandhkot-Kashmore and Larkana. “The work on these roads is almost complete,” said P&D chairman. CM Syed Murad Ali Shah pointed out that in the construction of these six roads, the provincial government had saved an amount of Rs38.92 mn.

The ADB representatives were further informed that the government planned on constructing three important roads with a cumulative length of 82 kms. They were told that these roads included a 32 km road connecting Sehwan Railway crossing at N-55 to Dadu, a 22 km road connecting Chambar to Tando Allahyar and a 28 km road connecting Jehan Khan (N-65) to Fezu Laro (N-55) via Chak town of Sukkur-Shikarpur. The bank official agreed to take up the package of three roads.

The ADB team was also told that another 20 roads (costing Rs 41,200 mn) with a cumulative length of 847 km had been approved by the CM and the Punjab Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) as well as the federal government’s Central Development Working Party (CDWP). The ADB representatives were told that the twenty roads needed to be financed for the work to begin. They were told that these roads included Mehran Highway at Sui Gas Chowk to Hingorja (N-5) Stop via Setharja, Mehran Highway- Paca Chang stop to (n-5) Bhiria stop, a road from Qazi Ahmed to Daur, a road from Dokri to Radhan via Badah, a road from TM Khan to Sujawal via Bulri Shah Karim, a road from Hyderabad to Tando Ghulam Ali via Shaikh Bhirkio, Gulab Laghari with link to Chambar, a road from Dadloi to Adilpur via Cheechro with a link to Pano Aqilvia Rojho, a road from Thul to Bahu Khoso with links to Allahadad (border of Balochistan), a road from N-5 to Khairpur-Larkano road via Ahmedpur, a road from Shikarpur to Chak-Jahan Khan with links to Khanpur and Lakhi, a road from Shahdadkot to Ratodero via Mirokhan with link to Mirokhan-Kambar, a road from Shikarpur to Sukkur-Larkana with links to Bado via Dhakan, a road from Mirpur mathelo to Khanpur with links to Hayat Ptafi, a road from Matiari to Oderolal town via Nsarpur, a road from Thatta to Jhimpir via Satayoon Buradabad road, a road from Mithi to Deplo, a road from Talhar to Digri via Tando Bago, a road from Indus Highway to Rani Kot and a road from Thul to Jacoabad via Sanhri Sarkar.

The Sindh Secondary Education Improvement Project (SSEIPI) was also discussed in the meeting. The ADB team was informed that SSEIPI was a $150 mn project in which provincial government share was $15 mn. They were told that it had three components, access to quality secondary education, teaching and learning capacity and improvement in education system.

The CM said that he had declared education emergency during his last tenure and after going through the overall education system he found these three interventions, quality education, improving teaching & learning capacity and improvement in education system were required. P&D chairman added that the project had been approved by CDWP and has been sent to Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) for approval. On this, the ADB DG said that the bank would support the project.

The enhancing Public Private Partnerships (EPPP) project was also discussed. ADB representatives were told that the project was envisaged to strengthen provincial government capacity to select and develop and PPP projects and effectively manage PPP project-related fiscal risk. Mohammad Wassem said that it would be a $184.13 mn project in which provincial government’s share would be $64.9 million. They were told that the project had already been cleared by CDWP and was in progress.

The ADB team was told that the Red line BRT project had been designed and it would start from Model Colony to Numaish. Representatives were told that the provincial government wanted the ADB to financially support the government in development of the infrastructure and procurement process of the buses with regards to RLBRT. On this, the ADB DG directed his team members to collect all relevant documents from Sindh government for approval of the project.

Published in Daily Times, August 31^st 2018.