Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has said that the establishment of a new residential, industrial and recreational city of Zulfikarabad between twin districts of Sujawal and Thatta will bring a revolution in residential and commercial activities in the province and open up the entire areas up to coal-rich Tharparkar.
He stated this while presiding over a meeting on Zulfikarabad held at CM House on Tuesday. Chief Secretary Siddique Memon, Principal Secretary to CM Alamuddin Bullo, Senior Member Board of Revenue Rizwan Memon, Additional Chief Secretary (Dev) Mohammad Waseem, Secretary Irrigation Zaheer Hyder Shah and others attended the meeting.
Zulfikarabad Development Authority (ZDA) Managing Director (MD) Ali Mumtaz Zaidi gave presentation to the chief minister and proposed an alternate site of Halij-Kohistan area spreading over 60,000 acres for Zulfikarabad City for certain reason – it was close to national and superhighways. He added that it carried the distinction of becoming the first lake view city of the province.
The development of the new city would convert a deserted area of Haliji and Kohistan into resorts, horticultural and residential areas, he said. He also proposed a cargo airport in private sector on the line of Sialkot private cargo airport. He added that Karachi was getting over populated day by day creating enormous problems to the citizens. This was the time for planners to think for diversifying the population of the province achieving less population pressure, he added.
It may be noted that the economic zone of Zulfikarabad city has already designated at Shah Bandra, Kharochhan on the East of River Indus and Keti-Bandar on the West of River Indus. Possibility of establishing a port and shipyard at Keti Bandar was considered during the presentation.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah said that he had urged the federal government to include Keti Bandar sea port project into China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. “I hope it would be included because of its strategic, geographic and commercial importance.”
Keti Bandar is not far away from Arabian Sea and it is an alleviated place comparatively safer from cyclones. It has been a historical port and is one of the natural ports of the world if developed. It was originally conceived by Shaheed Benazir Bhutto during her tenure as prime minister and she was interested to install major power coal-fired power plants in the area.
The presentation was also included shifting of the site of 44-long kilometer Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Expressway and six kilometer long bridge on River Indus from Dhandhari to Ghoranabri connecting the economically vibrant area of Mirpurskaro on the west of River Indus to Chuhar Jamali to the east of River Indus. This would open up the remote areas of Thatta to the Uraban areas of Karachi. It would also reduce distance of Sujawal, Badin and Tharparakar to Karachi. Besides saving travelling time, it would also reduce accidents and traffic pressure on the roads and would flourish agro-based commercial activities.
The chief minister also directed senior minister for finance to explore ways and means to develop proposed Zulfikarabad city, industrial area and recreational sites through public-private partnership investment mode.
While endorsing the presentation, the chief minister directed constitution of a committee headed by Senior Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah. The other member of the committee would be MNA and MPAS of Thatta and Sujawal, Minister for Local Government Jam Khan Shoroo, Additional Chief Secretary (Dev) Mohammad Waseem, Commissioner Hyderabad, secretary irrigation and DCs of Thatta and Sujawal. ZDA Managing Director Mumtaz Zaidi would work as member/secretary of the committee. The committee is bound to file its recommendations within three weeks accordingly.
