CM Sindh reviews works dept, ADB road sector schemes

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Wednesday said that his government has launched Rs26 billion road sector projects under which 239-kilometer road is being constructed all over the province.

The chief minister was presiding over a meeting to review the progress of road sector projects by Works and Services department and also discussed the Sindh Provincial Road Improvement Project (SPRIP) by the Asian Development Bank.

Briefing the chief minister the works minister Imdad Pitafi said that highways department has launched 488 road schemes, including 396 ongoing and 92 new schemes under which the roads have been almost completed.

Secretary Works Aijaz Memon, speaking about new schemes, informed CM Sindh that four road sector schemes have been taken up by district government, 37 have been approved by the Divisional Development Working Party (DDWP).

He further said that twenty-eight schemes have been cleared by Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) which falls under the Ministry of Planning and Development, while 21 schemes would be discussed in the next meeting of PDWP.

Giving status of 41 schemes, the secretary said that Sakrand-Sarhari road in Shaheed Benazirabad district and Ruk-Lakhi road in Shikarpur district have been completed last month. He said that nine schemes would be completed by the end of October,  two in November and 28 in December.

Chairman Planning and Development Mohammad Waseem briefed CM Sindh about ADB SPRIP schemes approved in 2016. He said that the project cost is Rs. 22750 million in which ADB provides 90.86 percent soft loan while the provincial government share 9.14 percent funds.

CM Sindh was informed that under the project 67km Tando Mohammad Khan-Badin road, 55km Digri-Naukot road, 64 km Khyber-Sanghar via Tando Adam road, 63 km Sanghar-Mirpurkhas via Sindhri road, 36 km Sheranpur-Ratodero road, 44 km Thul-Kandhkot road have been started.

The chief minister directed him to regularly inspect the roads so that the quality and speed of work could be achieved as per the target.

Secretary Works told the CM Sindh said that over Rs4.8 billion funds have been allocated for maintenance and repair of roads under which the government has released Rs1.83 billion and transferred to the chief engineers to carry out repair works.

CM Sindh directed works minister to personally inspect the proper utilisation of funds. He said that roads being constructed must be maintained by carrying out their regular maintenance and repair.