KARACHI, Pakistan: The Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has said that his government has created a conducive investment atmosphere in the province.
The Sindh Government provides all necessary facilities and protection to the national as well as foreign investors and this is why leading multinational companies are interested to invest in different sectors in Sindh.
This he said while talking to a delegation of China Shandong International firm led by its chairman Sun Liang here at the CM House, said a statement on Monday.
The other members of the delegation include Ms Cheng Yan, Zhang Yangjun, Wang Sinjun, Wang Xu and Sun Lei.
The CM Sindh was assisted by provincial ministers Murad Ali Shah, Jam Khan Shoro, Chief Secretary Siddique Memon, Principal Secretary Alamuddin Bullo and others.
The CM said that Karachi is the financial capital of Pakistan having the headquarters of banks, financial institutions and business.
The province of Sindh is regional power house of the future in the sense that it has vast coal fields in Thar which can produce 100,000 MW for at least 300 years, he said.
He said that the wind corridor has the potential of generating 50,000 MW. Sindh produces 56 percent oil and 78 percent gas of the country, he added.
He said that Sindh has vast agricultural base with 5.45 million hectares of cultivable land and 350 kilometers long coastline base with tremendous opportunities of tourism and fisheries sector.
Minister for Finance & Development Syed Murad Ali Shah said that Sindh government has made necessary legislation to facilitate the investors.
He said, “We have Sindh Public Procurement Act which governs all public procurements including Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects and it has been developed with World Bank guidelines.”
He said that Sindh has first Public-Private Partnership Act, 2010 enacted under the guidelines of Asian Development Bank (ADB) created PPP Policy Board under Sindh PPP Act, 2010.
This is a centralized forum in which all departmental agencies are present.
Additional Secretary Development Muhammad Waseem said that the projects executed under PPP mode, include Hyderabad-Mirpurkhas dual Carriageway Project, Jhirk-Mulla Katiar bridge Project and NICH Security and Fire Safety contract, Sindh Nooriabad Gas power project, Karachi Thatta Dual Carriageway Project, Education Management Orgs Project and Health PPP projects.
He said that Hyderabad-Mirpurkhas dual-carriageway project is a toll-based model.
It has 27 years concession life and had two years for construction period while it is a 4-lane 67 kilometer road launched at Rs 6.2 billion by a Korean company.
This project has 40 percent commercial debt, 30 percent soft loan and 30 percent equity. Construction on this project completed in 2012 and it is operating successfully as a self-sustainable model.
Muhammad Waseem said, similarly, Jhirk Mulla Katiar Bridge is a Rs 4.5 billion project.
The project has 25 kilometer two lane road plus 1.7 kilometer bridge. There is 75 percent commercial loan and 25 percent equity. It is likely to be completed by mid of 2016.
Syed Murad Shah talking about up-coming projects said that Ghotki-Kandhkot project, Hyderabad Badin Road Project, Tando Muhammad Khan-Badin Road are in the pipeline.
Secretary Transport Taha Farooqui giving presentation on Mass Transit Plan said that Brown Line is a good project with route length of 18.5 kilometer from Nagan Chowrangi to singer Chowrangi with 18 stations on the route.
Its ridership would be 736,000 per day and the system capacity would be around 45,000 persons per hour per day (pphpd). The project cost would be around 116 billion.
Talking about BRT Red Line, he said that the project starts from Mazar-i-Quaid and ends at Malir Cantt.
The total length of the corridor is 21.5 kilometers with 24 stations.
The ridership per day would be around 350,000 while the system capacity would be 13,000 pphpd and its cost has been estimated at 15 billion rupees.
The Chinese investors showed their interest in transport projects and took details of the project on which there was no encroachment and no issue of land acquisition.
Source: APP
