Islamabad:
The center and Sindh on Saturday met face to face in the much delayed highway project Sukkur-Hyderabad, along with the reconstruction of the Karachi-Hyderab Highway, and the last one accused the first to drag his feet when it comes to development projects in the province.
Going to his press conference after the Budget in Karachi on Saturday, the principal minister of Sindh, Murad Ali Shah, said: “Sindh is not a colony of the Federation, since the province is not receiving its complete participation of the center.”
Presenting a long list of complaints against the center, the main minister said that the first 30 billion were assigned for Hyderabad-Sukkur highway and now the allocation was reduced to RS15 billion. “If the trend persists, this project will not be completed even in the next 12 years.”
When commenting on the comments of the principal minister, the Federal Minister of Communications, Abdul Aleem Khan, said that, as a federal minister, he is responsible for last year alone, but does not want to comment on the inaction of previous governments with respect to the construction of the Autopistas Sukkur, Hyderabad and Karachi.
He said that the construction of Karachi-Hyderabad-Sukkur highways would begin this year and added that the Islamic Development Bank has expressed its willingness to finance the project, while the final decision regarding the approval of the loan is expected in September of this year after its meeting of the Board, a press release issued here.
He emphasized the corporate importance of connecting the port of Karachi to the National Network of Motors, saying that without this connection, the usefulness of the highway for import, export and businesses would not be useful.
He pointed out that different political parties, including the PPP, remained in power, but unfortunately, several years were wasted due to the lack of beginning of these critical infrastructure projects such as Karachi-Hyderabad-Sukkur highways.
Abdul Aleem Khan reaffirmed the federal government’s commitment to build not only the Sukkur-Hyderabad highway, but also the Hyderabad-Karachi section, while the goal is to complete the entire route within two years.
