THIS is apropos of letters, 'Gorakh Hill Station' (May 21 and 24). Although the Gorakh Hill was identified for development as a summer resort way back in the early 1950s, serious efforts were not made to develop it.

Gorakh Peak lies at the altitude of 5,688 feet above sea level. It is 450km north of Karachi via Sehwan and Dadu. It was in 1985 when a preliminary survey was conducted.

In 1989, on the executive orders of the then prime minister Benazir Bhutto, a feasibility report was prepared. In April, 1996, Ms Bhutto again visited the site and issued instructions for providing basic infrastructure, i.e. road, water and electricity to Gorakh Hill.

A 54km-long road from Wahi Pandhi to Gorakh has been completed. Water supply from two different sources, Hingan Spring and Naigaj, has been arranged. On both these schemes Rs390.825 million has been spent. Under another scheme, electricity has been provided at a cost of Rs173.181 million.

The major scheme, 'Development of summer resort at Gorakh Hill Station', was prepared at a cost of Rs999 million and its PC-I was approved in 2005-06. The scheme was to be funded by provincial and federal governments on a 50-50 per cent basis.

Under the scheme, the provincial government has spent Rs17 million for preparation of the master plan, survey of the area and consultancy service. However, the federal government has not so far provided its share of funds in the scheme. According to the master plan, initially 2,000 acres would be developed for making it a tourist resort.

In order to speed up the development work, the Gorakh Hill Development Authority has been created, for which legislation was made by the Sindh Assembly in August 2008. The director-general of the Authority has been appointed and a steering committee headed by the Sindh chief secretary has been constituted for monitoring the progress.

The Sindh government is attaching paramount importance to the project. It has been decided to develop Gorakh Hill on a public-private partnership basis. The consultants have been assigned the work for preparation of feasibility. Hopefully, expression of interest will be invited within the next two to three months. The importance of developing Gorakh Hill cannot be underestimated because besides being a wonderful tourist resort, it generate economic activity in the area.

The government of Sindh appreciates the suggestions given and concern shown in the letters published, but disagrees with the notion that the government has been careless about development of this important project.

SHAMS JAFRANI Secretary, Culture & Tourism
Sindh, Government
Karachi