Sindh CM protests over meager allocation for road projects

KARACHI: Chief Minister of Sindh, Syed Murad Ali Shah, has protested with the Prime Minister, objecting to the federal government’s allocation of merely 4.34pc of funds for road construction in Sindh. Notably, this allocation is even lower than the funds assigned to Gilgit-Baltistan, he highlighted.

Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah in his letter to Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif asked for the construction of Hyderabad Sukkur Motorway (M-6) on a priority basis. According to a copy of the letter available with The News, the CM Sindh described the Hyderabad Sukkur Motorway (M-6) as pivotal for the connectivity, development, and prosperity of the country, and is the only missing link in the south-to-north network and is critical for the traffic moving from the Ports of Gwadar and Karachi to upcountry.CM added that less than 5pc of the total allocation of funds was allocated to Sindh. According to the data quoted by the CM, Sindh Shah in his correspondence total Rs.161.26 billion was allocated for the road schemes throughout the country, out of which Rs. 62.32 billion for Punjab’s 33 schemes, Rs. 28.36 for KP’s 30 schemes, Rs.38.501 billion for 22 schemes of Baluchistan, Rs. 7.103 billion for 4 schemes of Gilgit-Baltistan and only Rs.7.005 billion for 6 roads of Sindh. As per statistics 38.65pc of the funds have been allocated Punjab, while 17.59 percent of funds were allocated for 30 projects in KP, 23.87 percent funds to 22 projects in Balochistan, 4.40pc of funds has been allocated for 4 projects in Gilgit, 0.16pc for one project in Azad Kashmir, 2.48pc on one project outside Pakistan and only 4.34pc for 6 projects of Sindh.