KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has directed the authorities to convene a meeting of the Provincial Finance Commission (PFC) at the earliest to ensure the timely distribution of financial resources among local governments across Sindh.

The directive came during a meeting between the PPP chairman and Sindh Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah here at Bilawal House on Monday.

The PFC is the apex body working within the jurisdiction of a provincial government under its minister of finance. According to information available on the Sindh Finance Department’s official website, it has a special mandate to ascertain the share of available resources between provincial and local government, generally known as vertical distribution. It also formulates a criterion for the distribution of allocated funds to local government horizontally among different tiers and local councils.

To date, four PFC awards have been designed and implemented in Sindh. The first PFC Award was prepared in the year 2002 and implemented during 2002-03 and 2003-04. The second award was formulated in the year 2004 and implemented during the following two financial years. The third award was presented in the year 2006-07 for an interim period of one year. In the year 2007-08, the fourth award was designed and remained intact till the termination of local government in the year 2009.

PPP chairman briefed on proposed legislation aimed at granting greater administrative and fiscal powers to LGs

According to a PPP statement, Mr Bhutto-Zardari discussed with the LG minister matters related to strengthening the local government system.

“Nasir Shah briefed the PPP chairman on the performance and initiatives of the local government department and sought guidance on proposed legislation aimed at granting greater administrative and financial powers to elected local government representatives,” the statement said.

“The discussion focused on improving governance at the grassroots level and enhancing the capacity of municipal institutions to address public issues more effectively,” the statement said, adding: “The PPP chairman stressed the importance of empowering local governments and ensuring that local bodies have adequate financial resources to carry out development work and provide civic services.”

He directed the minister to convene the meeting of the PFC soon “so that financial allocations for local governments can be finalised without delay”.

New e-bus route from Gulshan-i-Maymar

Separately, Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon called on the PPP chairman and briefed him on the performance of the transport department.

He informed Mr Bhutto-Zardari that a new electric bus route would soon be launched in Karachi from Gulshan-i-Maymar to Tower to facilitate commuters.

Mr Memon also said that under the Peoples Bus Service initiative, intercity bus routes would be introduced between Tando Allahyar and Hyderabad, Shikarpur and Sukkur and Khairpur and Rohri to improve transport connectivity in Sindh.

In another meeting with the party’s central information secretary and MNA Shazia Marri, Mr Bhutto-Zardari discussed matters related to the National Assembly, particularly the party’s role in legislative business.

Ms Marri briefed the PPP chairman on measures being taken to address public issues in Sanghar district.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2026