Hurdles in Thar coal project: Sindh government to seek President, Prime Minister intervention

The caretaker Sindh cabinet, which held its second weekly meeting here on Tuesday, with Chief Minister Abdul Qadir Halepota in the chair, decided to approach the President and Prime Minister to sort out the issues hampering the Thar coal project.
Briefing newsmen about cabinet decisions the provincial Secretary, Information, Fasihuddin Ahmed, said that the cabinet was briefed by Mines Secretary on latest project development and said that work could not kick-off because of the tariff issue.
Reviewing the entire ambit of the project, the cabinet decided to take up the matter with the President and Prime Minister. The cabinet also reviewed the progress in respect of the program of improvement of water courses and was briefed by the Project Director about progress achieved so far.
The cabinet was informed that as against 6179 water courses lined under On-farm Water Management program during last 27 years, 5071 water courses were lined under NPIW in 2005-06, 5740 in 2006-07 while a target of lining of 6000 water courses has been set for 2007-08.
The meeting was told that for the current year's target, technical sanction has been granted on 87 percent applications. The Chief Minister directed that work should be further expedited to achieve the targets within the stipulated period.
The cabinet was informed that Rs 9847.90 million was released for NPIW, out of which Rs 7064.08 million had been spent.
It was pointed out that the project was being monitored under GIS and had been appreciated at the national level, so much so that the President had directed use of GIS-based monitoring system in the implementation of Health and Education projects.
While reviewing the project of clean drinking water for all, initiated by President Pervez Musharraf, the cabinet was informed that, in all, 1108 water filtration plants are to be installed--one in each Union Council in Sindh. In this regard an agreement was signed on November 5, 2007 with Green Power (Pvt) Ltd for installation of 1005 such plants.
It was told that under the agreement the contractor would be responsible for overhauling and maintenance of the plants for initial three years, whereafter concerned TMA will take up this responsibility. The cabinet also reviewed the availability of atta in the province.
Briefing newsmen, Information Secretary Fasihuddin Ahmed said that the cabinet noted that atta prices had started declining as a result of the measures taken by Sindh government. He said that the cabinet was of the view that atta prices would continue to slide down till these reach the level of Rs 16 per kg. The third weekly meeting of the cabinet will be held on December 27.