KARACHI: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Thursday said that the Pakistan Peoples Party was a different political party of loyal parliamentarians who would tender their resignations forthwith whenever party leaders ordered them.

“We have our resignations in our pockets and whenever we receive orders from our leadership we will resign from the assembly,” he added.

Responding to questions of journalists just after reviewing preliminary work on Malir Expressway here on Korangi Road, Mr Shah said that resignation from the provincial assembly was not an issue.

“We are workers of a party which has a totally different culture of loyalty,” he said and added “we will submit our resignations whenever the party leadership ordered us”.

On Karachi Circular Railway, he said his cabinet had expressed reservations on the start of old KCR and asked him to take up the issue with the federal government to launch a modern KCR. He said the present KCR was operating with four trains from City Station to Pipri and charged Rs30 fare per trip. “I have surveyed the operation of the KCR which hardly has 22 per cent occupancy rate,” he said and added “it hardly earns Rs8,000 to Rs10,000 per trip against spending lacs of rupees [on every trip]”.

Murad Ali Shah said that he had received a notice from the Supreme Court and he would submit his reply on Friday or Saturday.

Replying to a question about MQM leader Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui’s remarks in which he had termed PPP government “a racist government/party” that had posted a Sindhi-speaking deputy commissioner in district Central, the chief minister said: “May Almighty Allah show them [MQM] right path and give them guidance.”

He said: “Recently, I chaired a meeting of all DMCs in which deputy commissioner of district Central said that there were a lot of illegal occupations of government properties, grounds and other areas. If the DC struggles to enhance government revenues, vacates government property from illegal occupations what is wrong in it?” he said.

Rs27bn Malir Expressway

He said Malir Expressway was a 39.40km-long project to be constructed on the left bank of Malir River at a cost of Rs27 billion.

He said that it would be an “access-controlled high-speed expressway facility”.

The CM said that it would be six lanes with three-metre side shoulders dual carriageway. “Its speed would be100kph and 50kph at interchanges,” he said.

He added that construction period of the project would be 36 months. Murad Ali Shah said that the starting point of the expressway was Korangi Road, before Jam Sadiq bridge, Korangi-Shah Faisal Colony Road, N-5 near Future Colony (Quaidabad) up to Kathore.

The expressway would have nine cattle creeps/pedestrian crossings and would have five weighbridges.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2020