KARACHI: Federal Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has assured Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah that the federally-funded projects would be looked after properly.

He held out the assurance at a meeting with the chief minister (CM) at the CM House. They also discussed the overall economy and measures being taken to strengthen it.

The CM told the federal minister that the Sindh Revenue Board had been given a Rs350 billion collection target during the current financial year. Similarly, the mechanism to collect agricultural tax was being strengthened, he added.

The finance minister stated that significant measures were being implemented to strengthen the national economy. The initial results were evident as the inflation rate had dropped to single digit, he said.

The Sindh CM took up the issue of federally-funded projects (Public Sector Development Programme) in Sindh for which funds were not being released, as a result even the ongoing project of Jamshoro-Sehwan road, to which his government had also contributed Rs7 billion, was going on at a slow pace.

He also discussed the dualisation of the Mehran Highway.

It was agreed that the federal and provincial governments would work together to strengthen the national economy by promoting industrialization and the agriculture sector, and by attracting investment.

The projects launched in the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode by the Sindh government were lauded in the meeting.

The CM said the Thar Coal Mining project was the largest one launched in the PPP mode. Currently, the Malir Expressway and Ghotki-Kandhkot bridge on the River Indus were major projects going in the PPP mode, the CM said.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2024