KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that water projects like K-IV cannot be completed without the support of the federal government and the conference of all stakeholders he convened recently was aimed at seeking their support.

“We all have to work together to serve the people of the city,” he said while talking to reporters on Monday.

He came to Ibrahim Hyderi along with Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani and his Law Adviser Murtaza Wahab to express condolence with the family of senior politician Haji Shafi Jamote who passed away on Sunday.

In reply to a question, he said although it was agreed in the meeting that there would be no politics on the genuine issues of the city and everyone would be working together, “But, I am surprised just after the meeting a few friends told media [things] contrary to their arguments in the meeting,” he said.

Says work on Yellow and Red lines will be completed in 18 months after projects’ launch

‘Centre not serious in completing Green Line’

Regarding Green Line bus project, Mr Shah said that in the new budget the federal government had allocated 20 to 25 per cent of the total required funds for Green Line. This showed that the federal government was not serious to complete it during this financial year.

About Orange Line, the chief minister conceded that it had been delayed but it was a small project of over five kilometres and would be completed very soon and would start working along with Green Line as both projects were interlinked.

Talking about Red Line, the CM said that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) had approved a loan for the project. The Sindh government had signed a loan agreement with World Bank for Yellow Line and now the project was in the phase of final approval.

“We will start work on Red Line and Yellow Line and their work would be completed within 18 months,” he said.

To another question, he said he did not know the governor of the State Bank but the bosses who had brought him here were opposed to the amnesty scheme.

“This was the decision of the federal government and what they have achieved out of it should be asked to them,” he said and added that he was only concerned about the revenue recovery targets set by the federal government.

“I am sure they won’t be able to achieve them [targets] and at the end of the day provinces would suffer again.”

Judge’s video

Talking about the video released by PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz, the chief minister said that it must be investigated by no less than a high-powered judicial commission.

“This is a very serious matter and must be taken seriously; otherwise it would cause an irreparable loss to the politics of the country,” he said.

Commenting on the federal government’s decision of returning the control to the provincial government of three main heath facilities, the CM said that the decision to hand over the Jinnah Postgr­aduate Medical Institute (JPMC), National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) and National Institute of Child Health (NICH) was testament of his narrative.

“I have been saying since long that the provincial government is capable enough to run the JPMC, NICVD and NICH and today my narrative has come true. We have invested tremendously in these three hospitals and have made them best of the health facilities in the country,” he said.

He said that the satellites of NICVD were also providing best services in different districts and now “we are planning to establish the satellites of NICH in different districts of the province”.

Earlier, he said that late Haji Shafi Jamote was a decent person and despite his different political thinking and approach he always upheld high values in dealing with others.

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2019