HYDERABAD: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Saturday said that he failed to understand why the overdue National Finance Commission (NFC) Award was not being announced by the federal government. He said that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) his party would raise this issue in National Assembly.

Mr Murad was speaking to journalists during his visit to Budho Khan Pitafi village in Tando Allahyar on Saturday. Provincial ministers Sharjeel Inam Memon, Fayyaz Butt and Sikandar Shoro were accompanying him.

He evaded reporter’s questions about the inspector general of police saying that the matter was sub judice. He, however, repeated his stance it was Sindh government’s discretion to select a provincial police chief. He expressed the hope that the matter would be settled after a couple of hearings in court.

The chief minister held out the assurance that the next provincial budget would be up to people’s expectations.

In reply to a question, he said the country was facing a shortfall in electricity; power generation today was less than what was in 2013. He said that he did not know how would [the federal] government meet this shortfall. He complained that the federal government did not take provinces on board over electricity issues although it was supposed to consult them in line with the relevant constitutional provision.

He said that Sindh offered a solution to energy crisis. He said that Thar had rich coal reserves. He said that Thar’s power plants would start churning out electricity by the end of the current year end or early next year. He said that 4,000 megawatts would be produced in the blocks currently being worked on while 10 other such blocks would produce thousands of megawatts more.

He said that China had realised importance of Thar’s coal reserves. He said that Thar got maximum investment under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

He disclosed that all development works in the province would be completed on time. He said that 42 mega road projects and 146 other schemes would be completed by December this year.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2017