June 18, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 13, 1429

KARACHI, June 17: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah said here on Tuesday that he was confident that in the new National Finance Commission (NFC) award, being constituted by the coalition government, population would not remain the single criterion for distribution of resources among provinces.

“Poverty, tax collection and other universally accepted factors will also be given due weight in the resource distribution formula,” he said while speaking at a post-budget press conference. Sindh Information Minister Shazia Marri also spoke.

“We have proposed names of a panel for representing Sindh on NFC,” he said, but refused to share further information till the government approves a name.

He said that a ministerial level meeting on June 4 created an environment of understanding between provinces which would help pave way for a just and fair NFC award for every one.

Answering a question, he said that the Sindh government had taken up issue of gas development surcharge with the federal government and hoped to get it resolved.

“The communication between federal and provincial governments is now far more clear,’ he said.

The chief minister was confident of bringing an end to load-shedding and power outages by December next by way of energy conservation and augmentation of power generation.

“In the next three years or so, Sindh will have three or four coal-based power projects to generate about 7,000 to 8,000 MW electricity and we may be exploring prospects of power export to a neighboring country,’’ the chief minister replied to a question.

Tariff was now an issue of secondary importance because the real matter was availability of electrical power,’’ he answered to another question.

He said quite a few investors have shown interest in setting up coal-based power projects.

He conceded that energy is a federal government responsibility, but Sindh has to bear a lot of public outcry against breakdowns, outages and load-shedding, and was, therefore, in close consultations with the federal government.

Syed Qaim Ali Shah recalled that it was the PPP government in 1996 that initiated major power projects based on coal which were scrapped by the subsequent government. But the present government, he said, had provided Rs360 million in the budget to prepare feasibility reports on Sonda and Thar coal exploitation.

There was also a proposal to establish a training institute in mechanised mining in collaboration with some foreign partners at a cost of Rs600 million, he said.

At the outset, the chief minister spoke about poverty reduction, welfare and relief programmes in the budget announced on Monday. He was confident that the government would provide jobs to 400,000 to 500,000 youths in the country and abroad in the next two to three years after giving them training in market-related jobs.

He announced that the provincial government plans to construct seven dams and work on construction of Nai Baran dam was going on a fast track. This dam, he said, would bring 30,000 acres under cultivation.

Another major initiative being taken up by the provincial government was improvement of district level hospitals. After making necessary investment for acquisition of equipment and gadgets and quality medicines, he said the hospitals would be handed to private sector for management.

Rural health improvement, he declared, was one of the prime objectives of his government for which his government would offer attractive salaries and incentives to doctors to serve in remote areas, like Nara in Thar.

“We will also associate civil society and NGOs to extend quality services in social sectors,’’ he said.