Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim said on Sunday that inter-provincial harmony was the need of the hour and the disputes among the provinces were being resolved amicably under the leadership of President Musharraf. He stated this in a meeting with Federal Inter-Provincial Co-ordination Minister Salim Saifullah at the Chief Minister House here.
The chief minister said that past governments did not play any role in resolving the inter-provincial disputes and credit goes to President Musharraf, who played a decisive role in setting the issues like distribution of water and the financial resources among the provinces.
Dr Arbab Rahim said the province, which used to seek overdraft and had to pay federal loans in the past, has cleared all the loans and now it has a surplus budget. Currently, 233 development schemes were under way in Sindh, he added.
He also told the federal minister that development projects worth Rs 8 billion were under way in Karachi, having no matching example in the history of this city.
The Sindh government has decided to spend Rs 12.7 billion the on education sector to promote education and literacy, while it would spend Rs 6 billion from its own resources in addition to Rs 2 billion of the Asian Development Bank on construction and improvement in roads during current fiscal year, he said.
Moreover, Rs 18.18 billion would be spent on maintaining law and order while the salaries of the police force have been raised, he added.
The chief minister, who is also provincial chief of ruling PML, said his party and its allies achieved success in local government elections in 21 districts of the province and hoped that they would sweep the next polls also.