KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah said on Tuesday that the Karachi-Thatta dual carriageway would not only serve thousands of people living along the route, but it would also connect Thatta to coal-rich Thar after completion.

He said this at the signing ceremony of a financing agreement of the Karachi-Thatta dual carriageway project at CM House on Tuesday, according to a press release.

The works and services department in association with the Sindh Public Private Partnership Unit is going to launch the carriageway project.

He said that the project would be a milestone in the development of Sindh.

He said that better road network would serve thousands of commuters living along the Karachi-Thatta route and would also benefit those who were already using this facility up to Thatta or beyond.

It is also expected that the improved facility would help open up these areas for creation of soft infrastructure such as better services for schools and health centres as these areas would become easy to reach through this project, he said.

The project was the most important artery in the province from Karachi to Thatta and a larger economic benefit of this project was linked with connecting this corridor from Thatta towards Thar for the coalfields, he added.

He said he was committed to the people and to developing Sindh and creating a congenial atmosphere for investment in the industrial sector.

Also speaking on the occasion was Senior Minister for Finance Syed Murad Ali Shah, who said the importance of the project was also highlighted because of its connection to Thar coalfields.

He said after a fair and transparent bidding process, the Sindh government joined hands with the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) under the Public-Private Partnership mode to dual the existing National Highway N-5 starting from Gaggar Phatak to Thatta Bypass having a total length of 49 kilometres.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2015