Sindh: Upgrading of roads network approved

[Naveed Yaseen]

The upgrading of the roads network in Sindh was approved at a meeting at the Chief Minister House on Tuesday.

The meeting was informed that National Highway (from Karachi to Kashmore) will be turned into a motorway, while Super Highway from Karachi to Hyderabad will be made into a three-track motorway.

Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, who chaired the meeting, said that a nursing school will be established in Karachi, while work on the up-gradation of Lyari General Hospital would likely to be completed by December 2009.

The meeting also reviewed the progress of different development projects being undertaken in the city and other parts of the province.

The meeting was also informed that the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Park located at Boat Basin would be inaugurated very soon.

It was also stated that a lining of 18,000 watercourses out of total 42,000 have been completed so far, while a land area of 50,000 acres has been prepared, which will be distributed among 2000 women farmers.

The meeting also decided to takeaway thousands of acres of land, which were given to farmers for cattle farming in the recent past, as the land was not utilized for the intended purposes. Therefore it was decided that new projects would be launched on these lands. The participants were in addition informed that big public parks would be constructed, one each in 23 districts of Sindh’s province while 25 acres of land would be provided in each district to set up agricultural research and storage complexes. Furthermore, the meeting also reviewed the progress of the new city, Zulfikarabad, bridges on the Indus River, road sector development and tourist attractions in the province.

Bottlenecks in Lyari Expressway to be removed: Bottlenecks causing delays in the construction of the Lyari Expressway are to be removed; this was resolved on Tuesday during a meeting of the sub-committee of the Senate Standing Committee on Communications. The meeting was chaired by Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah.

The construction of the Lyari Expressway from Sohrab Goth to Mauripur Road near the seaport is a quicker alternative way through the city for port bound traffic coming in from other parts of the country. The Chief Minister stated that all stakeholders i.e, The Federal Government, Sindh Government and the City District Government will be kept on board so that this delayed project can be completed.

The project has been delayed for the past nine years due to the resettlement of the local inhabitants. The financial cost of the project has exceeded; therefore the Committee will soon discuss this issue with the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

The sub-committee was comprised of Senator Wali Muhammad Badiani, Convener Senator Imtiaz Sarfraz Waraich, and Minister of State for Communication, Senator Syed Nayyar Bukhari, and Muhammad Sharif Khan, Secretary Communication.

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