DHABEJI - Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the Council of Common Interests (CCI) meeting was not called within a year, and when it was called its minutes are were not released on time. “This is how things are moving but even then we will be struggling to get the people of Sindh their due rights,” he vowed.
He was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of 100 MGD new pumping house held here on Tuesday.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari inaugurated the pumping house by unveiling the plaque. The ceremony was attended by provincial ministers, Saeed Ghani, Syed Nasir Shah, Murtaza Baloch, Adviser to CM Murtaza Wahab, Adviser to CM Aijaz Shah Shirazi, Secretary Local Government Roshan Shaikh, Water Board MD Asadullah Khan and party workers of Thatta, Sujawal and Karachi in a large number.
The chief minister said that it was after the hue and cry of over one year that the CCI meeting was convened. “Minutes of the meeting were delayed for around one month, and when they [minutes] were released and found them hotchpotch and now he has sent them back after necessary corrections. But I assure you, your [people of Sindh] rights will be protected at all costs,” he assured the people amid deafening noise of applause.
Addressing the PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto, Murad said that he was thankful to him that he had inaugurated third phase of development schemes and projects within a span of one month. “You have inaugurated roads and underpasses in the provincial capital twice within 15 days, and now after a fortnight you have inaugurated the newly-built 100 MGD pumping house,” the CM said, and added the people of Hyderabad had also requested the PPP chairman to inaugurate water supply, sanitation and road sector projects in their city for which he, (the chief minister), said, he would again bother the chairman.
The chief minister announced that the PPP chairman would perform the stone laying of Ghotki-Kashmore bridge on River Indus shortly. “This would be the third bridge on the river, being built by the provincial government from its own resources,” he said.
Murad said that some federal ministers were fond of unveiling the plaques of projects already launched, and some of them had even broken the name plates of the projects. “If you are so interested in inaugurating the projects, then come to Sindh, here we have completed a lot of schemes and we do not have time to inaugurate them,” he said, and added, “We would give you the chance to unveil the plaques of our schemes, and as a matter of fact, you are in the habit of inaugurating the schemes, which other governments have completed,” the CM taunted.
Talking about 100 MGD pumping station, the chief minister said that all its machinery, including motors, had been imported from Germany. “These are four pumping machines, each with a capacity of 100 25 MGD, therefore the total capacity would come to 100 MGD,” he informed.
He disclosed that 260 MGD of additional water was available in the system for the port city, but due to lack of required infrastructure, the water could not be provided to the city. “At present, the city is being provided 450 MGD of water and with the commission of new 100 MGD pumping house, 50 MGD of additional water would be provided for Karachiites. This means that from Kinjhar source the city will be receiving 500 MGD of water,” Murad said, and added that Karachi was receiving 100 MGD of water from Hub, but due to cracks in the canal line, losses had gone up to 30 MGD.
The chief minister said that he had approved the renovation, revamping and reconstruction of water canal from Hub to District West of the city so that 100 MGD of water could be supplied to the city. “In this way, the Water Board would be able to provide 600 MGD of water to the city very soon,” he hoped.