President reviews pace of federally funded development projects

KARACHI: President Dr Arif Alvi here Monday chaired  a meeting to review progress of federally funded projects executed by Sindh Infrastructure Development Company Ltd. (SIDCL).

Governor Sindh Imran Ismail was also present on the occasion.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SIDCL Sualeh Farooqui highlighted the efforts of the company for improvement of infrastructure in Sindh in general and Karachi in particular.

He informed that SIDCL had completed Phase-I of the 21 km dedicated corridor of Green Line BRTS along with OCC building and Bus Depot, with approximate saving of Rs 1 billion. He mentioned that civil works of Phase-II were under process, which included construction of 1.1 km underpass; 462-meter underground bus terminal and 1.5 km common corridor from Guru Mandar to Municipal Park on MA Jinnah Road.

Farooqui informed the meeting that Government of Sindh had recommended construction of common corridor on MA Jinnah Road with priority signaling, and detailed feasibility and design was being completed by the company consultants.

Describing the operations of Green Line BRTS, he informed that the federal government had allocated Rs 2.5 billion in current financial year for operations of Green Line against PC-I cost of Rs 10.9 billion.

He informed that SIDCL would float Request for Proposal (RFP) which was in final stages, enabling management to kick start procurement of fleet of 65 diesel-hybrid buses and related equipment for Green Line service.

The president was subsequently briefed on status of development schemes under Karachi Package.

Sualeh Farooqui informed that during the first quarter of the current financial year; SIDCL would complete three major schemes of infrastructure improvement which included 8.1 km long Manghopir Road from Jam Chakro to Banaras Chowk; 6.9 km Manghopir Road from Banaras Chowk to Nishter Road, 6.4 km Nishter Road from Teen Hatti to Napier Road and construction of three flyovers along Sher Shah Suri Road at Sakhi Hassan, Five Star and KDA roundabout.

The president was briefed that procurement of 50 fire tenders and 2

water bowzers would also be completed during the current financial year, which would upgrade KMC's firefighting system.

Discussing new schemes, the president was informed that three new schemes had been approved under PSDP for 2019-20, which included construction of road from Dumlotte wells up to education city Malir; construction of road over Malir Band from DadaBhoy Town to PNS Mehran and Construction of Flyover on Jinnah Avenue (M-9).

He mentioned that Rs 5 billion had been allocated under PM Programme in Sindh for various development schemes in 13 districts of the province.

The president was informed that SIDCL was also closely coordinating with ministry of climate change for facilitating Clean Green Pakistan campaign initiatives in Sindh.

The CEO SIDCL informed that the company had approached NDMA to avail

Rs700 million grant through Risk Management Fund by earmarking matching grant of Rs 300 million. This would enable SIDCL to utilize funds in drought hit areas and strengthening local agencies with modern disaster recovery tools.