CM complains about slow dualisation of Indus Highway to Senate chairman

Sindh’s chief minister said on Sunday that the work on the dualisation of the Indus Highway is proceeding at a snail’s pace, even though the provincial government has already paid 50 per cent of the estimated project cost to the federal administration.Syed Murad Ali Shah was talking with Senate Chairman Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani, who had called on the chief executive along with senators Ahmed Khan Baloch, Khuda Babar and Mirza Mohammad Afridi at the CM House.The Senate chairman told Shah that through the media he was learning about increasing road accidents on the Indus Highway that were claiming innocent lives every day. On this the CM said the project of dualisation of the Indus Highway from Jamshoro to Sehwan, about 108km in length, was approved due to his personal efforts at Rs14 billion in 2017.Through the National Highway Authority, the then federal government launched the project when the provincial administration had shared Rs7 billion as 50 per cent of its total cost, added Shah.“We have already released Rs7 billion in April 2017 to start the project, but the pace of work on the road is disappointing,” he said, adding that as a matter of fact, the project was scheduled to be completed within 18 months.Shah said that he had asked the federal government to return the Sindh administration’s Rs7 billion as well as hand over the Centre’s 50 per cent share of Rs7 billion so the provincial government could complete the project on a war footing.He added that Federal Minister for Communication Murad Saeed later assured him that work on the project would be expedited, but the result was still not encouraging. Discussing the Nai Gaj Dam, the CM said that it was originally a 48-billion-rupee project launched by the federal government, but due to the delay in its completion, its cost has increased to Rs60 billion.“We have already requested the federal government to complete it so that its purpose of irrigating the lands in the area can be achieved,” he told the Senate chairman. Sanjrani said that he would take up the grievances of the provincial government with the relevant Senate committee and get these projects completed at the earliest.He congratulated Shah on the launch of the first-ever indigenous Thar coal power project. On this the CM invited him and the senators to visit Thar and see the development efforts of the provincial administration.The chairman accepted the invitation and said he would lead a delegation of the senators from other provinces and visit Thar by road. The CM said that if he visited Thar by road, he and his delegation would enjoy the travel.“We have constructed an excellent road from Karachi to Thatta and then to Badin and up to Thar; the road is of the best quality,” he said. He added that the provincial government has constructed two bridges on the Indus River in Thatta and Sujawal districts, roads, an airport in Islamkot and has connected Thar with internal roads. “Now Thar looks like a well-developed district.”

from The News International - Karachi http://bit.ly/2ULCg33