KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Sunday visited ongoing infrastructure development projects in Karachi’s “backward and industrial areas” and directed the authorities to complete all the schemes at the earliest.

The CM visited the projects at Shaheed-i-Millat Road, Korangi, Korangi Industrial Area and Lyari costing around Rs4 billion.

He directed the project director of the Karachi package, Niaz Soomro, to complete the schemes pertaining to underpasses, bridges, roads and reconstruction of damaged storm-water drain soon.

The chief minister along with Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani, Information Adviser Murtaza Wahab and others visited the projects either in progress in different localities from Shaheed-e-Millat Road, where two underpasses were being constructed.

The chief minister attends international conference on information, science & communication technology at Karachi University

The first underpass was at Hyder Ali Chowrangi and it was being constructed with an estimated cost of Rs658.188 million. The 445-metre-long underpass is schedule to be constructed in six months.

The second underpass he visited was at Tariq Road Chowarngi. The construction cost of the project was Rs524.258m and its length was 545 metres.

Although both the projects are scheduled to be completed within six month, the chief minister directed Mr Soomro to complete them within four months.

He also directed the DIG-traffic to make necessary traffic arrangements because the area would be closed for construction of the underpasses.

The CM went to Korangi Industrial Area, where the construction of 8000 Road from Jam Sadiq bridge to Dawood Chowrangi was started on Sunday.

The work on the nine-kilometre-long road would be completed with an estimated cost of Rs1.2 billion. Under the scheme, a waterline would also be shifted.

The CM directed Mr Soomro to construct the damaged portions of a storm-water drain and de-silt it completely.

He asked him that the Yellow Line project would be established with the support of World Bank on 8000 Road so there would be no duplication of road construction.

The CM drove to Korangi areas and visited 12000 Road where a 460-metre-long intersection bridge at Korangi No 5 was being constructed with an estimated cost of Rs330.429m.

He told the project director that high tension overhead cables were passing through the intersection bridge area and they must be shifted or alternative arrangements made.

He also visited an overhead bridge being constructed with a cost of Rs330.429m.

Later, he reached Lyari where he visited under-construction roads surrounding Lee Market.

These roads would be 14.64-km-long and the cost of the project is Rs454.2m. The entire area would also be illuminated through lighting towers at designated places.

Mr Shah concluded his visit at the Kakri ground where he played cricket with Pakistan Peoples Party workers and supporters amid slogans of Jeay Bhutto, Jeay Bilawal Bhutto and Jeay Murad Ali Shah.

Technology advancement

Addressing an international conference on information, science & communication technology (ICISCT-19), the CM said that advancement in science and technology in many spheres had without a doubt made lives better than the earlier times.

“We cannot refute the fact that the life of each one of us is highly dependent on the scientific inventions and modern day technology,” he said at ICISCT-19 organised by the computer science department — the Umaer Basha Institute of Information and Technology — at Karachi University.

Recalling that the technology advancement brought an end to the wooden toys era and replaced the same with electric cars, he said: “Its effect has been well observed in spheres like medicines, education, infrastructure, electricity, aviation, information, computer, metallurgy, physics, nuclear energy, space technology, defence research, biotechnology, household, sports, job, tourism, agriculture and numerous other fields as well.”

He said that to an extent, technology had even conquered the space as well and the use of cloud computing, artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, machine learning and business intelligence devices, etc, were helping find new avenues to manage, operate and conduct business.

He further said: “The increase in cloud storage, cloud computing, machine learning and artificial intelligence are such examples, which very soon would have a node to connect with our body and collect the data based on human activities in real time.

“Relentless development in technology has changed the lives of human both positively as well as negatively,” he said.

He added the new inventions and boom in technology were due to our inherent curiosity, problem-solving skills and not to say the least creativity.

Mr Shah said: “I do believe that if you’re going to try something different, you need to have faith, you need to have belief that something in the world will actually work for you, up there, things are already designed, you have to wait for it.”

He said he had many such stories on the belief, but “it took me the longest to understand that having belief is one of the most important factors in succeeding as you go forward for the next many years of your life”.

“For this, we need to be at the vanguard of the latest advances in science and technology — not only to anticipate challenges, but also to convert them into opportunities to strengthen our regimes,” he said.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2019