Rs1 trillion required to revamp Sindh infrastructure: CM

KARACHI: Around Rs1 trillion is needed to make required improvements in the civil infrastructure of the province, including the road system and clean water supply.

This was stated by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah while he was talking at the launch of a book, ‘The Economy of Modern Sindh’, authored by Dr Ishrat Husain, Aijaz Qureshi, and Nadeem Hussain, during the last day of the Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) on Sunday.

Commenting on a large number of migrants living in the province, the CM said, “The land of Sindh welcomed people from all over, including refugees from India.” He, however, added that troubles started with the influx of the Afghan refugees after which the province started to face various problems like narcotics and arms.

Around 2007, the CM said, Sindh had a huge issue of dacoits and travelling a large distance had to be in the form of convoys to ensure safety.

Shah identified the energy shortfall as a major issue being faced by the province. However, he said this problem would be mitigated as the Thar coal plant would start the generation of 330 megawatts (MW) of power from March 15. He hoped that this generation would go up to 2,000 MWs ultimately.

Thar, the CM remarked, had changed. “We have invested there,” he said. “Seventy-one per cent of the people employed on various projects are the local Tharis. We have built two model villages. Each village has a school and shopping centres. Also, we are building a large hospital in Islamkot.”

The adviser to the prime minister on institutional reforms, Dr Ishrat, who is a co-author of the book and has also served as the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), said he was very optimistic about the economy of Sindh, which, he said, contributed 30 per cent to the country’s GDP, still ahead of the Punjab.

The rural-urban divide in the province, he said, had led to the frail situation. “If the urban and rural economies were interdependent, it will be a win-win situation,” he commented. “We have to break this impasse and exploit the full potential. We have to get away from the past and exploit the opportunities.”

To a question as to why young people were not being attracted to serve the government, Dr Ishrat replied that up until the 1970s, the private sector was not as developed. Secondly there was job security with privileges like pensions and post-retirement facilities in government service. Today unfortunately, he said, there was lots of insecurity involved in the government jobs, like fear of agencies like the FIA and NAB, as a result of which civil servants were hesitant to take decisions. Careers in the private sector, in the meantime, had become very attractive on account of the privileges and financial packages doled out by them.

Former SBP governor and World Bank official Dr Shamshad Akhtar said Sindh had a great potential but what was holding things back was the political apparatus. “The future is very promising for Sindh,” she said.

Dr Akhtar, however, remarked that it was the responsibility of the legislature to act. Domestic and foreign investment would hopefully pour in soon, she said. According to her, the first and foremost requirement was the integration of the urban and the rural economies.

There was no doubt that Sindh had very promising people, Dr Akhtar said. She was of the view that Sindh needed to have a strategy to mobilise resources and make this mobilisation transparent. Also, she said, we did not have a positive land distribution policy for the small farmers. “I don’t see a positive narrative in a system where people have to yearn for clean drinking water and proper garbage disposal facilities,” she said. The book launch session was moderated by Aijaz Qureshi.