Sindh Government has approves several projects under public

[LRE-Azan]

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the provincial government with the support of private partners has developed some important projects, such as a bridge on the Indus River and a power plant.

“Now, the public-private partnership has assumed an important role in the development of Sindh and we are going to expand its scope for better services to the people of the province,” the chief minister said while presiding over a meeting of the public-private partnership policy board meeting on Tuesday.

The meeting was attended by provincial ministers Dr Sikandar Mendhro, Jam Mehtab Dahar, Sohail Anwar Siyal, Syed Sardar Shah, Syed Awais Shah, Ghulam Qadir Chandio, chief secretary Rizwan Memon, planning & development chairman Mohammad Waseem, principal secretary Sohail Rajput and other members of the board. The board discussed different projects to be launched under the public-private partnership mode.

The projects that were discussed in the meeting include the creation of a company that would independently manage the viability gap fund (VGF) for achieving better value and improving its risk management. There was a proposal to approve Rs550 million for the fund as per an agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The policy board approved both the proposals.

Another project of the Motor Vehicle Inspection Project (MVI) also came under discussion. The project was approved in January 2015 for the MVI and Certification system. For this project, the Transport & Mass Transit Department (TMTD) received only two bids and awarded the contract company to start the project. The policy board approved post facto approval for awarding work to a private firm.

The policy board approved selection of a bank for the yellow Line project. Under the project, the TMTD launched BRT System, the plan is to design, build, finance, maintain and transfer of more than 26 km of corridor from Dawood Chowrangi to Numaish and Regal Chowk via 8000 Road, Korangi road and FTC under PPP mode. Under the project, there would be 69 percent debt, 16 percent concessionaire equity and 15 Sindh government’s share. The finance department requested the policy board to accord approval for engaging the selected bank and proceeding for financial close. The board approve the proposal.

The policy board also considered the unsolicited proposal received from the Bahria Town for launching the BRT Blue Line project. The Blue Line Project is 11.8 km from Gurumandir via Teen Hati, Dakkhana, Liaquatabad No 10, Karimabad, Aysha Manzil, Water Pump, Yousif Plaza, Sohrab Goth to Al-Asif Square. The policy board approved to take up the project under the public-private partnership mode of procurement of investors solicitation.

The board was told that a private firm, EcoBus, had given an unsolicited proposal for operating electric air-conditioned buses to ply on all possible public transport routes within the city. The firm has offered to import 50 buses in the first phase. The chief minister directed the transport department to send the proposal to the technical committee and seek their recommendations. Once the recommendations are received the project may be brought into the policy board for necessary action.

Another proposal for establishment of markets of vegetable, fruit, fish and meat in Khairpur came under discussion. It was pointed out in the meeting that Khairpur has a vast and modern Special Economic Zone, therefore the market may be constructed in another district headquarter. The chief minister directed agriculture department to work out proposal and submit in the next policy board meeting.

The Solar Dates Dehydration project was also discussed. The meeting was told that Khairpur district is famous for its date palm cultivation. Due to highly favourable agro-climatic geographical and geological conditions Khairpur produces almost 300 verities of dates. Pakistan produces 700,000 tonnes of dates and etch $18.450 million and the Khairpur is one of the major contributor.

It was pointed out that the existing post-harvest technology, namely dryers, dehydrators and other processing technologies are inadequate, outdated and result in substantial loss of dates in terms of quality and quantity. They proposed development of solar dryers would help in drying a variety of dates under a controlled environment at relatively lower cost. The board approved the proposal for hiring a consultant.

Reference Link:
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/242898-...artnership