Master plan for Sindh’s 17 cities to be ready by December: chief secretary

Sindh Chief Secretary Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah has said that the master plan for the proper development of 17 cities of the province will be prepared by the government by December 2020.

He stated this on Monday as he met a delegation of the 42nd Specialised Training Programme comprising 45 government officials at Sindh Secretariat here on Monday. The delegation comprised 38 officials belonging to the Pakistan Administrative Service and seven from Gilgit-Baltistan Service.

The chief secretary informed the delegation that apart from one for Karachi, the master plan was being prepared for the cities of Sukkur, Larkana, Mirpurkhas, Nawabshah, Islamkot, Jamshoro,, Mithi, Sanghar, Naushahro Feroze, Dadu, Mitiari, Umerkot, and Tando Allahyar.

He added that world standards had been followed for developing the Thar coal power project whose 70 per cent of staffers belonged to local areas. He said that the provincial government had also constructed an airport for the Thar coal project. He said that the civic infrastructure of Karachi was being developed after the restoration of law and order in the city.

The chief secretary remarked that educational, cultural and commercial activities in the city got accelerated due to the restoration of law and order in the city. He said that some 449 new civic projects in Karachi, including those related to water supplies and construction of roads, would be completed by June, 2020.

He said that projects related to road construction, flyovers, and underpasses having a cumulative length of 150 kilometres had been completed in Karachi. The special development projects being developed n Karachi include Competitive and Livable City of Karachi, Karachi Neighbourhood Improvement Project, Karachi Water and Sewerage Services Improvement Project, and Bus Rapid Transit Service.

According to the chief secretary, development schemes under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project were also being developed in Sindh, including the Dhabeji Special Economic Zone and the Karachi Circular Railway project.

The members of the delegation said that they had come to know about valuable information related to ongoing and new development projects in Sindh on the basis of their interaction with government officials, and such knowledge would be of much importance for their service.