KARACHI, April 23 In a marathon address to the provincial legislature, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah presented an extensive report on the performance of the provincial government upon the completion of the administration's first year in office during Thursday's Sindh Assembly session.

Sindh's chief executive covered all the bases, as he made impressive claims and offered ambitious plans to set right all that is wrong in the province. Mr Shah spoke on the law and order situation, availability of food, jobs, uplift of the poor, health, education, economic issues, the transport sector, Thar coal and urban development during his address.

Qaim Ali Shah started off his speech by paying tribute to Benazir Bhutto and crediting President Asif Ali Zardari's policy of 'reconciliation' for the apparently harmonious political climate in Sindh. He also thanked the MQM's Altaf Hussain, the ANP's Asfandyar Wali, the PML-F's Pir Pagara and the NPP's Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi “for their support.”

The CM termed the law and order situation in Sindh as “stable” and cited the maintenance of peace during Muharram as well as during events such as IDEAS 2008 and the Asia Cup, along with the lawyers' long march and the death anniversaries of Benazir Bhutto and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, as examples of the administration's success in maintaining law and order. He said street crime had fallen in Karachi, citing figures which state that cellphone snatching had decreased by 60 per cent and car snatching by 20 per cent in the metropolis. He added that “kidnappings for ransom in the interior have been brought down conspicuously,” claiming that 66 criminal gangs had been busted in this regard.

Coming to food availability, Mr Shah said last year the government had set a wheat procurement target of 600,000 tonnes, which it had achieved. He said this year's procurement target was 1.2 million tonnes, of which 800,000 tonnes had already been procured. “It is believed such massive procurement would bring down food prices.”

Job creation

The chief minister said that when the government took over, 42,000 posts were lying vacant in government departments due to the ban on employment. “We created approximately 8,000 new posts in the budget 2008-09. We lifted the ban and initiated a transparent recruitment process. By now we have finalised 30,000 recruitments and another 20,000 are in the pipeline.”

Regarding poverty reduction, Qaim Ali Shah said various programmes had been initiated, such as the Union Council Based Poverty Reduction Programme and the $40 million Coastal Community Development Project. He also mentioned that 40,000 acres of land had been distributed among 5,000 households of land-less haris.

The CM said 5,400 residents of four villages in Karachi have been granted leasehold. Regarding housing for the poor, Mr Shah said a pilot project in collaboration with the UNDP has been launched to build 500 energy-efficient houses in Thatta, Badin and the coastal areas of Karachi. Two hundred 'pilot houses' are also being built in northern Sindh.

Health and education

Among the various initiatives to improve the status of health and education in Sindh, Qaim Ali Shah said a $40 million grant was expected from the Norwegian government for intervention in 10 districts under the Mother and Child Health Programme. He said the People's Primary Healthcare Initiative was now looking after a total of 883 health facilities in the province, while a Rs2.3 billion intervention had been launched under the Hepatitis-free Sindh Programme.

The CM said the Rs2.53 billion Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Accident Emergency and Ancillary Services Complex project had been inaugurated by the prime minister to provide 300,000 patients emergency and accident care in Karachi annually.

The Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation had also committed to opening a chapter in Sukkur to cater to the patients of northern Sindh. The Sindh government had allocated over Rs535 million in this regard.

He said the government has also been working to finalise a health insurance scheme for the poor.

Regarding education, the chief minister said that to fill the vacancies for teachers, 7,200 teachers stood recruited through the IBA tests while 13,500 teachers are undergoing recruitment tests conducted by the University of Sindh. He said 1,300 closed schools had been opened, while 4.3 million children in all government schools had been provided free textbooks. The CM said a Rs1 billion endowment fund had been created for support in higher education to poor students 400 students had already benefited from this. He added that engineering colleges would be set up in Khairpur and Larkana. The government also intended to establish the Dadu Institute of Management and the School of Art and Architecture in Sukkur.

Economic growth

Qaim Ali Shah said a Sindh Board of Investment had been set up to promote investment in the province while various projects had been initiated under the public-private partnership such as the Hyderabad-Mirpurkhas Dual Carriageway; Greater Karachi Sewerage Project S-III; Gorakh Hill resort infrastructure development; Keenjhar resort development; Qadirpur-Kandhkot bridge over the Indus and Kirthar National Park resort development.

He said work was on to revitalise several of the province's industrial estates and economic zones including the Shaheed Benazirabad Industrial Park; Sukkur Industrial Estate; a new agro-economic zone in Khairpur and Power Loom Industrial Zone in Hyderabad.

Regarding revamping of the agriculture sector, the CM said the Sindh Seed Corporation was being restructured while the Sindh Dairy & Meat Development Company was being established. Rs900 million had been set aside for this new entity.

As for irrigation, Qaim Ali Shah said the Small Dams Organisation was being reconstituted while delay action dams were being planned for districts Larkana, Dadu, Jamshoro, Tharparkar and Karachi.

The chief minister said the transport and communication sector had been allocated Rs9 billion during 2008-09, which was 18 per cent more than 2007-08. “By now the department has improved 546km of roads; 955km of new roads have been constructed; 1,275km of roads are under progress and 40 bridges have been constructed.”

He said an MoU had been signed with a British firm to explore Block VI of the Thar Coal Field and to establish a 300MW plant to be expanded to 1,200MW. “It is expected to start generating electricity by 2011-12.”

Urban development

The CM said “Karachi remains a high priority and the growth engine both for the province and the country. It demands high levels of investment in infrastructure as well as reforms in institution building.”

He said schemes costing over Rs24.5 billion have been included in the ADP 2008-09. The CM added that the Lyari Resettlement Project for the affected people of the Lyari Expressway had been taken up with the federal government to finance the remaining cost of the resettlement.

Qaim Ali Shah also mentioned that a Rs2.66 billion Lyari Development Package has been announced, while similar packages for Hyderabad (Rs7.6 billion) and Larkana (Rs2 billion) have also been given the green signal.

The chief minister's speech was greeted by desk thumping at regular intervals while after he had wound up, the leaders of the parliamentary parties as well as other MPAs congratulated Qaim Ali Shah on presenting the 'state of the province' report.