KARACHI, March 22: The Sindh government has decided to expedite development work on the Gorakh Hill area to covert it into a tourist resort.

The Gorakh Hill Development Authority is being established and a summary has been moved to the chief minister in the light of the suggestions made by the CM during his visit to the hill station on March 6.

This was stated during a meeting held on Saturday to review different on-going development schemes.

Sindh Chief Secretary K B Rind, who presided over the session, during review of the Gorakh Hill project, formed a committee to expedite its development, with DCO Dadu as its convener. The committee, which will review weekly progress of the project, will also be responsible for taking practical steps.

The chief secretary asked the provincial secretary culture to monitor the performance of the committee and look into bottlenecks, if any.

Earlier, the meeting was given a briefing about the development works so far carried out in the project area pertaining to construction of roads, power and water supply and laying sewerage system. The chief secretary directed the agencies concerned to ensure an early provision of basic facilities in the project area.

According to insiders, power supply line already had been laid up to Gaj from the amount of Rs 4 million released to the Hyderabad Electric Supply Corporation while a feasibility survey will be carried out by HESCO within a week.

Likewise, tenders for expression of interest will be invited for survey of proposed roads and its construction.

It is also learnt that services of an architect were being hired to chart out plans.

The chief secretary also presided another meeting in which measures were reviewed to develop coastal areas in the province and decided to improve lodging and boarding facilities at Lab-i-Mehran Sukkur, Al-Manzar Jamshoro, and Kenjhar lake.

The meeting also decided to improve further resort centres in Sindh with the coordination of Pakistan Hotels Association and Pakistan Chamber of Commerce to attract tourists.