Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Thursday gave approval for four projects in transport, finance and health sectors to be completed under the public-private partnership mode, read a statement issued by the Sindh government.

The chief minister chaired the 23rd meeting of Public-Private Policy Board and approved the infrastructure component of BRT Blue Line project, intra-city buses project, Green Line and Orange Line bus operation service project, and regional blood centres project.

The board approved the infrastructure component of BRT Blue Line, proposed by a consortium of EA consulting. As per the proposal, private equity in the component would be 16 per cent and Sindh government would bear 14pc expenses, whereas, the rest of 70pc finances would be managed through a loan.

A press release issued by the Sindh government didn't mention the formula for repayment of the proposed loan neither it disclosed further details except that the board offered that in case of price escalation, the provincial government would bear 50pc of the total cost. The estimated cost of the project would be more than Rs16 billion.

The meeting was told that the Transport and Mass Transit Department (TMTD) received an unsolicited proposal on intra-city buses project in the city. It proposes to ply up to 2,000 buses in next two years on the designated routes.

As per the proposal, the Sindh Mass Transit Authority (SMTA) would pay a fixed kilometre charge to the operator. The authority would also have to comply with the condition of guaranteed minimum kilometres of each bus per year.

The project is aimed to "complement the BRT Lines and Karachi Circular Railway by providing customers with another option of travelling to various destinations within the city through the buses".

The meeting approved the hiring of transaction advisers to furnish a feasibility study of the intra-city bus service in Karachi. It also approved funding for the same from the project development fund (PDF).

Similarly, the meeting chaired by the CM was informed that the provincial health department with the assistance of KfW-German Development Bank constructed four state of the art regional blood centres (RBCs) in 2015.

Under the agreement signed between the health department and KfW, the provincial health department was responsible for operation and maintenance of facilities.

The health department and the KfW have "agreed with the consensus" that the RBC be contracted out to an experienced and established private sector organisation under private-public partnership mode. In this regard, a summary was initiated for the policy board which approved the summary and the proposal, the press release said without revealing any further details.

Health Minister Dr Sikandar Mendhro, Local Government Minister Jam Khan Shoro, Information Minister Syed Nasir Shah, MPAs Awais Shah, Chairman P&D Mohammad Waseem, Principal Secretary to CM Sohail Rajput, VC NED Dr Suresh Lodhi and others attended the meeting.