Sindh Govt approves four projects for launch

Naimat Khan

KARACHI: The 23rd meeting of Public Private Policy Board held here under the chairmanship of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and approved the projects of Transport & Mass Transit, finance and health departments.

All the board members, including Minister health Dr Sikandar Mendhro, Minister Local Government Jam Khan Shoro, Minister Information Syed Nasir Shah, MPAs Awais Shah, Chairman P&D Mohammad Waseem, Principal Secretary to CM Sohail Rajput, VC NED Dr Suresh Lodhi and others.

Blue Line: The Transport & Mass Transit Department (TMTD) has received an unsolicited proposal on the infrastructure component of BRT Blue Line from consortium of EA consulting. The chief minister was told that the proposal has provided a financing option under which private equity would be 16 percent and Sindh government would be 14 percent while there would be 70 percent loan. The board approved the project saying that in case of price escalation the provincial government would bear 50 percent cost.

It may be noted that the estimated cost of the project would be more than Rs16 billion.

Intra-City: The TMTD has received an unsolicited proposal for intra city buses in the city. The proposal proposes to ply upto 2000 buses within two years on the nominated routes at desired frequency as per direction of the department.

The Sindh Mass Transit Authority (SMTA) would pay a fixed kilometer charge to the operator on the basis of achieving guaranteed minimum kilometers per year per bus. The chief minister was told that the project intends to compliment the BRT Lines & KCR by providing customers with the wider option of travelling to various destinations within Karachi.

The PPP board approved hiring of transaction advisors for feasibility study of the Intra-bus service in Karachi and approved funding for the same from the project development fund (PDF).

Green & Orange Line (Bus Operation Service project): The SMTA in collaboration with the PPP unit launched Green and Orange Line – Bus Operation service project invited proposal in which two bidders had participated. They were Daewoo Express Bus Service Ltd and A consortium of Transport Pvt.

After adopting the due procedure both the bidders were deemed qualified. The PPP board approved signing of concessional agreement with the preferred bidder.

RBC- Sukkur and Jamshoro: With the development assistance through KfW-German Development Bank, construction of four state of the art regional Blood Centers (RBCs) in Sindh was completed in 2015. The provision of these facilities involved civil construction, supplies of medical and non-medical equipment and office accessories. Under the agreement signed between Health department and KfW, the HD is responsible for operation and maintenance of facilities.

The health dept and KfW have agreed with the consensus that the RBC may be contracted out to experienced and established private sector organization under PPP mode. In this regard a summary has been initiated for PPP policy board. The PPP policy board approved the summary and the proposal.