The Sindh government in the Budget 2008-09 has proposed to construct one million houses for the poor and retired government employees. In his budget speech, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah told the house that the step will be key towards ushering social transformation in Sindh.
"Federal Government has announced construction of one million houses for the poor and retired government employees, he added." He said the provincial had evolved its own programme under which it would provide 100,000 houses within two to three years.
Following decisions and actions he said had already been taken:
1) A dedicated unit called, "Peoples Housing Cell" has been created under a Special Assistant to the Chief Minister for spearheading this exercise.
2) For taking speedy decisions, a high powered Steering Committee is being notified under the Chief Minister having members from institutions like ABAD; SAIBAN and Urban Resource Centre.
3) The plan includes construction of Low Cost Housing Units in all major Towns of Sindh having Government Land available.
4) Moreover, the government examining various mechanisms for providing low cost houses in villages which have been regularised in the first phase.
5) Rs 2 billion have been allocated for a Revolving Fund and provincial government would seek centre's support for this program. The provincial government has proposed two major skill development programs under the head of "Poverty Reduction & Skill Development Measures" in the Budget 2008-09.
In his budget speech Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah said the government was initiating a massive skill development program called "Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Youth Development Program". This is an urgent measure for skill development of poor, semi-literate and educated youth in Sindh for enhancing their employability, he said.
"We plan to train more than 100,000 youth within two years in fields linked to market demand, both local and international. By now programmes for training of 61,000 youth have been finalised under which over 40,000 matriculates and below will be trained in construction and industrial skills for 3 to 12 months and then linked to job market," said the CM.
He said his government would train approximately 8000 youth in agriculture, livestock, fisheries extension and other trades while training as paramedics and in midwife courses would also be extended to 3800 youths.
Announcing training facilities for around 4000 youth in the Information Technology sector, Shah said his government was also in contact with the private sector for facilitating training in other sectors like textiles, garments, automobiles etc. "In this context projects costing Rs 4 billion have been finalised and Rs 2.9 billion has been allocated in ADP", he said adding that his government "would seek assistance from federal government as well."
Another proposed program on skill development, Shah said, was "Sindh Technical and Vocational Authority (Sindh TEVTA)." He said "Sindh must take up Skill Development on sustainable and institutional basis, and for this we will Insha Allah set up Sindh TEVTA for undertaking modern technical training in accordance with market demand."