Sindh govt plans Cities Improvement Program

Karachi: Sindh Government is carrying out planning for $300 million Sindh Cities Improvement Program with the co-operation of Asian Development Bank (ADB). This was informed by Additional Chief Secretary Planning and Development, Nazar Hussain Maher, in a briefing on ADB-funded projects given to Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah.

The objective of the program is to improve the standard of life in Sindh's cities with reforms in the basic structure of cities as per modern day requirements. ACS said the program will be launched under Taluka Municipal Administration and Sukkur, New Sukkur, Rohri, Shikarpur, Larkana and Khairpur will be taken up under Phase-I.

In order to raise the living standard in these cities, modern civic facilities would be provided through implementation of water and sewerage schemes and steps taken for solid waste management, Chief Minister was informed. ACS said that improvement does not mean spending billion rupees on construction of buildings because this cannot lead to attainment of stable development targets. He described the performance of Public Health Engineering department as disappointed.

He said the reason thereof is that the department does complete the scheme, but takes up no responsibility to operate it and, therefore, this department was not held responsible for failure of any scheme. He informed that in Sindh there are some 1700 water supply and drainage schemes out of which 700 are non-functional.

Nazar Hussain Maher said a Public Utility Service Corporation, to be named as Sindh Urban Services Corporation, will be setup to provide better basic facilities to cities under Sindh Cities Improvement project.

Briefing the meeting about present situation in Sindh regarding water supply and drainage, waste management, problems of existing infrastructure and other related issues, Ms Cathey Julian, leader of the ADB Cities Projects team, informed that objective of Sindh Cities program is to focus on the problems of water supply, drainage and solid waste management.

The Phase-I of 300 million dollar project would be completed with an investment of 30 million dollars whereby North Sindh Urban Services Corporation will be setup with Headquarter at Sukkur, she told the meeting.

The Chief Minister welcomed the ADB team and appreciated its Cities Improvement Program. He said previous government failed to produce results and people of Pakistan have suffered a lot and now wants development and people-friendly projects so that poverty is alleviated on one hand and they gets access to basic facilities of life on the other. Approving the project, Syed Qaim Ali Shah issued directive for the establishment of Sindh Urban Services Corporation under Companies Ordinance 1984.

He said that other cities of Sindh, including central Sindh and cities in the South should also be studied. He directed that timeframe for the project be reduced so that it is completed at the earliest and people are provided better and modern facilities of life. Sindh Local Government Minister Agha Siraj Durrani, Chief Secretary Fazlur Rehman, Secretary Local Government Aftab Memon and other officials were also present in the meeting.