Building works in Zulfikarabad to start next month

[Salman]

Building works in Zulfikarabad to start next month

* Dhandhari Bridge and Garho-Shah Bunder expressway projects ready for launch

KARACHI: Formal building works in the proposed Zulfikarabad will commence next month as work on the six-kilometer-long Rs 3.7 billion Dhandhari Bridge on Indus connecting the new city with Garho in Thatta district will start on June 15.

Also route survey for the 44 kilometre-long Zulfikarabad Expressway connecting Garho to the Bridge and then on to Shah Bunder has been completed and bid documents being finalised. This was stated at a special meeting held at the Bilawal House Karachi to review progress on Zulfikarabad with President Asif Ali Zardari in the chair.

Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Chief Minister Sindh; Murad Ali Shah, Finance Minister Sindh; Raja Muhammad Abbas, Chief Secretary Sindh; Shahzar Shamoon, Senior Member, Board of Revenue; Lt Gen. ® Iftikhar Hussain Shah; Managing Director ZDA; M Salman Faruqui, Secretary General to the President; Spokesperson to President Senator Farhatullah Babar and other senior officials attended the meeting.

Briefing media persons about the meeting, Babar said that the special meeting had been called to monitor the progress ahead of the president’s visit to China next week. The Chinese have agreed to help build the new city by building the Special Economic Zone in Zulfikarabad as the hub of the new city, he said.

The president during the meeting directed that the status of developmental works being undertaken in Zulfiqarabad city project should be made available on the internet so that local as well as foreign investors could be able to monitor the project with the satellite imagery and make appropriate investment decisions.

Chairman Zulfiqarabad Development Authority Lt Gen. ® Iftikhar Hussain Shah also briefed the meeting about the recent visit of a team of experts of Sindh government, federal government and ZDA and held meetings with Chinese entrepreneurs and for studying Shenzhen model of developing a new city.

The president said that there was lot to be learnt from China, which had built a modern city Shenzhen in a spectacularly short span of time. He said that the proposed city could be turned into an economic hub of the province keeping in view its proximity to the port city of Karachi.

About the infrastructure projects in the city the meeting was informed that several firms from China, Turkey, and Czech Republic had shown keen interest in the Wind Power project in the city and that Expression of Interest for developing 250 MW Wind Power Project on joint venture basis had already been invited. Besides EoI for Financial & Legal Consultative Services for public private partnership projects, development of special economic zones, alternate energy power projects and projects in housing, tourism, education and hospitals have also been invited. The meeting was informed that the Zulfiqarabad city project received positive response from the foreign investors at recently held Annual Investment Conference 2012 in Dubai.

The president while appreciating the decision of the Sindh government to showcase the city project at international forum remarked that the project needed to be further promoted through road shows to attract the interest of national and international investors. The meeting also deliberated upon various issues being faced by the authority. The president directed Sindh chief minister to convene a meeting of the relevant departments and stakeholders to sort out the issue