PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari makes a presentation on governance in Sindh at Awan-e-Sadr. Photo: PPI
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Thursday outlined the Sindh government’s performance since 2008, highlighting progress in healthcare, education, poverty alleviation, infrastructure, industry, agriculture and income generation, while proposing devolution of sales tax collection to the provinces to address the country’s fiscal challenges.
Giving a detailed presentation on provincial governance at the Presidency, Bilawal said Sindh was often portrayed as a “glass half empty” province but maintained that the PPP-led government had consistently strengthened institutions and expanded service delivery.
He noted that since taking office in 2008, the party had received a broader mandate in each subsequent provincial election.
The event was attended by Acting President Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, members of the Sindh cabinet, parliamentarians, representatives of the business community, diplomats and journalists.
Focusing on healthcare, the PPP chairman said Sindh had increased allocations for the healthcare sector from 2.9 per cent of the provincial budget in 2008 to almost 10 per cent at present. He highlighted the expansion of major public hospitals, including Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC), where bed capacity had doubled from 1,100 to 2,200 by 2025, with a target of 3,100 beds by 2028.
He said the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), also known as Sindh Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (SICVD), now operates 11 specialized hospitals and 30 chest pain units across the province, significantly improving access to emergency cardiac care. Referring to the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT), he said more than 35 million patients have benefited from its services since 2008, while the bed capacity has increased from 760 to 1,926.
Bilawal said the Gambat Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) had successfully carried out 1,362 liver transplants, while the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Institute of Trauma (SMBBIT) had become the largest trauma center in South Asia, treating more than 175,000 trauma patients annually. He added that Sindh’s infant mortality rate stood at 2.9%, far below the national average of 5.45%.
Regarding the education sector, the PPP chairman said the number of public universities in Sindh had increased from 10 in 2008 to 30 at present, along with 18 additional university campuses across the province.
On poverty alleviation, he said the Sindh Rural Support Organization (SRSO) program had helped lift 1.4 million women out of poverty through soft loans, with a recovery rate of 98%. Recalling the devastating floods of 2022, Bilawal Bhutto said around 2.1 million houses were destroyed across the province. In response, the Sindh government launched a mass housing initiative to build 2.1 million climate resilient homes. Of these, 750,000 were already completed, while around 1.5 million were under construction. He said the project had created almost a million jobs, helping to reduce unemployment and poverty.
In the agricultural sector, he said the provincial government distributed wheat seeds worth more than Rs 2.1 billion to 215,000 farmers following the floods, resulting in a bumper wheat crop of 4.5 million tonnes in the following season. He added that 198,000 farmers had benefited from the Benazir Hari Card programme, while a Rs 56 billion support package for wheat farmers enabled cultivation on nearly 1.96 million acres. He noted that Sindh operates the largest irrigation system in the world, with more than 4,000 kilometers of canals.
Talking about access and mobility, he said Sindh had a road network of about 57,000 kilometres, including 24,148 kilometers of newly constructed roads. He added that until 2008 there were only five bridges over the Indus River in Sindh, and four more bridges had been built since then.
Bilawal said public transportation was virtually absent in the province before 2008, but PPP-led initiatives now facilitate daily travel for more than 200,000 passengers, including through the introduction of electric buses.
He added that 202,000 workers were registered in the Benazir Mazdoor Card programme.
On energy, he said Sindh had the potential to generate 50,000 megawatts of wind power, along with huge solar capacity. Currently, 1,845MW were being produced from wind projects. He said 200,000 solar home systems had already been provided to households and a further 275,000 homes were being installed with solar power.
He said special economic zones and public-private partnerships were a defining feature of the Sindh government, noting that projects like the Dhabeji special economic zone had received international recognition. He cited the Thar coal project as a successful PPP model that contributed to national power generation and at the same time created local employment, with 71% of jobs going to Thar residents.
The PPP chairman also highlighted environmental progress and said the mangrove forest cover in Sindh had expanded from 270,000 acres to a record 675,000 acres.
On revenue generation, he said the Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) had collected Rs 28 billion in 2011, compared to Rs 10 billion collected by the Federal Board of Revenue in 2010, a 68% increase over federal collections at that time, and Rs 307 billion in service sales tax by 2024. He said the average annual growth rate of the JUR of 19% far exceeded that of the Federal Board of Revenue. 10%.
Calling for tax reforms, Bilawal Bhutto proposed transferring the collection of sales tax on goods to the provinces, arguing that the provincial tax authorities had consistently outperformed the FBR and could help close the federal fiscal gap while strengthening economic self-sufficiency.
Earlier, Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said the people of Sindh had repeatedly regained their trust in the Pakistan People’s Party by electing it to the government, and described the mandate as an endorsement of the party’s long-standing commitment to public service.
He said the PPP’s governance philosophy, rooted in the vision of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto, focused on empowering the most marginalized sections of the society through inclusive development and people-centred policies.
