Federal Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb assured Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Friday that the federally funded projects would be looked after properly. The assurance came as the two met at the CM House and discussed the national economy and measures being taken to strengthen it.
The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah, Federal Secretary of Finance Imdad Ullah Bosal, Principal Secretary to CM Agha Wasif, and provincial secretary of finance Fayaz Jatoi.
Murad took up the issue of federally funded projects in Sindh for which funds were not being released. As a result, even the ongoing project of Jamshoro-Sehwan Road to which his government had also contributed Rs7 billion was being built at a slow pace, he said. The chief minister also discussed the project to dualize the Mehran Highway.
He told the federal finance minister that the Sindh Revenue Board had been given a Rs350 billion tax collection target during the current financial year. Similarly, he said, the mechanism to collect the agricultural tax in the province was being strengthened.
Finance Minister Aurangzeb stated that significant measures were being implemented to strengthen the national economy, and the initial results were evident as the inflation rate had dropped to single digits.
It was agreed in the meeting that the federal and provincial governments would work together to strengthen the national economy by promoting industrialisation and the agricultural sector, and by attracting investment.
The development projects launched under the PPP (public-private partnership) mode by the Sindh government were lauded in the meeting. CM Shah said that the Thar Coal Mining project was the largest project launched under the PPP mode. Currently, the Malir Expressway and the Ghotki-Kandhkot bridge on the River Indus are major projects being built under the PPP mode, he said.
Gujo-Bulo fishing net
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah in his meeting on Friday with a delegation from the Fisheries Department of the Balochistan government, led by its parliamentary secretary Barkat Rind, discussed collaborative projects aimed at boosting the fisheries sector to improve the livelihood of local fishermen.
The delegation members included the secretary of the Fisheries Department, Balochistan, Javed Shehvani, and Director Fisheries Technical Dr Allauddin. The CM was assisted by his Advisor on Livestock & Fisheries Najmi Alam, Secretary of Livestock & Fisheries Kazim Jatoi and Secretary to CM Rahim Shaikh.
The Fisheries Department officials from both provinces noted that the use of Gujo-Bulo fishing nets for catching fish was destroying fish seedlings, depleting fish stocks, and rendering fishermen unemployed. They emphasised the need for appropriate measures to stop the import of these fishing nets.
The CM said he would talk to the federal government to ban the import of Gujo-Bulo nets. In the meeting, Murad directed the Sindh Fisheries Department to launch welfare schemes for fishermen and collaborate with the Balochistan government to launch similar schemes there also. He decided that the fisheries departments of both provinces should enhance coordination so that the export of seafood could be increased.