KARACHI: The Sindh government on Wednesday approved construction of the longest bridge on the Indus River, a two-kilometre long structure, to link Ghotki and Kandhkot.

Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said while presiding over a high-profile meeting that the bridge, a four-lane project, would be built on the basis of public–private partnership and was scheduled to be completed in three years.

The meeting also approved construction of a 3.5-km-long bypass for the traffic coming from Ghotki to Thull, Jacobabad and Balochistan.

The meeting was attended by Minister for Planning and Development Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, Sardar Saleem Jan Mazari and other officers concerned of works and services and irrigation departments.

The chief minister directed floating proposal for the bypass within a week so that its foundation stone could be laid by the end of next month. “This is one of the most important projects for smooth flow of vehicular traffic to Punjab and Balochistan,” he said.

The chief minister said at a separate meeting of office-bearers of four industrial areas of Karachi at the CM House that the industries department should start reconstruction of infrastructure of the industrial areas within 20 days.

He said the government had released around Rs1 billion for the development of infrastructure in NKI area, FITE, KITE and LITE. “But, the work has not been started yet for one or the other reason,” he said.

He said the purpose of giving funds to SIIDB was to develop infrastructure within the shortest possible time but the board failed to do it.

The chief minister constituted a committee under commissioner Karachi to monitor quality and pace of work and keep accounts audited from time to time. The other members of the committee included representatives of P&D, finance, industry and deputy commissioners concerned.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2017