The government has started consultations with coalition partners on the budget for the next fiscal year and agreed to demands of the Awami National Party (ANP) and Muttahida Quami Movement Muttahid (MQM). Sources said that MQM team's leaders held a meeting with the Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, which was also attended by Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, and decided to accelerate the work on the Lyari Expressway.
Finance Minister informed the meeting that a JICA team would be visiting next month and concrete progress would be made on the Karachi Circular Railway Project. The project will be completed with 98 percent Japanese government funding. The meeting also decided in principle that K-4 Water Supply, Karachi project would be given a priority and the Federal government would extend all possible financial and technical assistance to the provincial government in this regard.
An official of Finance Ministry said that coalition partners also held a meeting with the economic managers at Ministry of Finance during last week and demanded for allocation of funds in the budget for Karachi Circular Railways, (M-9) Karachi-Hyderabad Super Highway, Lyari Expressway and K-4 water supply project. The MQM wanted allocation of Rs 32 billion for the Water Project and Rs 5 billion for the Lyari Expressway in the budget for the next fiscal year.
ANP Parliamentarians, led by Senator Haji Muhammad Adeel, met the Prime Minister and assured him that ANP would continue to stand by the PPP for the sake of democracy, rule of law and the Constitution. The Finance Minister and other senior officials also attended the meeting. ANP leaders urged the government to take immediate measure to improve the domestic electricity situation.
The ANP delegation said that completion of Chashma Right Bank Canal and Munda Dam was very important for the agriculture of the province and also to serve as an effective measure to control floods in the country. The Finance Minister is said to have promised to allocate funds required for land acquisition of the Kurram Tangi dam project. The Secretary Finance, Rana Abdul Wajid, told the meeting that the government of France had offered 12 million euros for the project as a soft-term loan.
The meeting was also informed that the federal government had already released funds for the Lowari Tunnel and work would soon resume on the project. Senators Zahid Khan, Afrasiab Khattak and MNAs Masood Abbas and Bushra Gohar were part of the ANP delegation.
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