Zulfikarabad City: proposed project to be a separate, distinct city from Karachi, says Zardari

President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday said the proposed Zulfikarabad City Project will be a separate and distinct city from Karachi with all modern facilities. The President also asked the provincial government to hold a briefing on this project in the Sindh next month to review the progress made since the last meeting in August in Karachi.
He gave these directions to the provincial government during meetings with provincial ministers and core committee and also with PPP MPAs of Sindh who called on him in groups here at the Chief Minister House. The meetings were also attended by the Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah. The President said the new Zulfikarabad City will not be part of Greater Karachi.
Briefing the journalists about the meetings, spokesperson to the President former Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the President described the project as necessary because the huge influx of national and international migrants in Karachi and Hyderabad had put tremendous pressure on the existing infrastructure.
The President recalled that in August last he had directed the Sindh government to identify a million acres of land near the coast in Thatta district for the development of the new city of 'Zulfikarabad' that would be built in the memory of late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
The proposed Zulfikarabad would have latest infrastructure and facilities with provision for growth and expansion for the next over a century, he said. The new city would provide employment and economic opportunities to the local population who have been deprived of basic economic rights for decades, he said.
According to plans Expressions of Interest (EoI) would be invited from international consultants for giving the basic design concept of the new proposed city after the land for it has been identified, Farhatullah Babar said. He said that the President visualised the concept of the new city by converting useless state land into a productive asset for the benefit of the local people of interior Sindh.
At the last meeting on the new city project, the names of Jhimpir and Jhirk in Thatta district were proposed for possible location of the project but a final decision will be taken by the provincial government after taking into account a number of related factors.