F.P. Report
KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the federal government was not interested in development of Sindh; this why almost all federally-funded projects in Sindh province have either been abandoned or but on the back burner.
In this state of affairs the province of Sindh was left with no options but to raise voice at appropriate forums in the first phase and then the options were open to stage protests in the assemblies. This he said on Friday while presiding over a meeting to review progress of Nai Gaj Dam, Darawat Dam and rehabilitation of Sukkur Barrage.
The meeting was attended by Member ECNEC Nisar Khuhro, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, Chairman P&D Mohammad Waseem, Special Assiatnt to CM on Irrigation Ashfaq Memon, Principal Secretary to CM Sajid Jamal Abro, Special Secretary Agriculture Shakeel Shaikh, Special Secretary Irrigation Aslam Ansari and other concerned officers.
The chief minister said that the federal government has taken out important project of Sukkur Barrage Rehabilitation & Modernization from it PSDP and surrendered its Rs100 million to Ministry of Planning & Reforms which was injustice with the people of Sindh. “Sukkur Barrage is the life line of our agro-economy and the provincial government had got approved from the federal government after hectic efforts,” he lamented.
Chairman P&D Mohammad Waseem told the chief minister that he had conveyed annoyance of the chief minister to the federal government and now they have sent a letter to him for re-adjustment of the Sukkur Barrage scheme. Shah took up another scheme of Nai Gaj and said it was launched by the federal government for Rs16.9 billion in 2009 with the objective to conserve water resources for the irrigated agriculture development, protection from flood waters and hydropower generation. The construction of the dam was for arrest of flood water flowing through Nai Gaj Hill torrent so that 22,962 hectares land could be irrigated.
He said that in 2009 the cost of the project was Rs16.924 billion in which Rs1.56 billion was provincial government share for rehabilitation component. The scheme was revised in 2012 at a cost of Rs26.23 billion in which provincial government share was fixed at Rs1.89 billion. The second revision was made in January 2019 for Rs41.79 billion and now the federal government was asking Sindh government to pay Rs22 billion share. “This is not possible for us and we are of the view that federal government must complete its projects it has launched in Sindh,” Murad Ali Shah said.
He urged Nisar Khuhro who is Sindh’s ECNEC member to discuss the issue in the ECNEC meeting to be held in Islamabad on January 23. “Our stance is very clear and convey them rankly,” he said. It may be noted that Nai Gaj project is located in District Jamshoro and it flows from Hill and drains out in Manchhar Lake after flowing through arid zone of Kachho area.
Another project discussed in the meeting was Drawat Dam project. This project is located is a concrete Gravity Dam across Nai Baran River near Jhangri village of Taluka Thano Bolakhan, District Jamshoro. The federal government had launched this project for Rs3.17 billion in 2010 for storage of 150 Million Cubic Meters of water to irrigate 10,000 hectares. It completion date was August 2014.
Murad Ali Shah said that the second revised cost of the project stood at Rs11.7 billion but the project is yet to be completed. “This slow pace shows that federal government is not serious to complete its projects in Sindh,” he said.
The chief minister said that the other slow moving projects were RBOD-I & II and Rainee Canal.He also said that the the federal government should allocate 1200 cusecs (650 mgd) additional water for Karachi city.
