Governor rules out any progress on Islands without Sindh govt

Governor Sindh Imran Ismail on Thursday attempted to address Sindh Government’s concerns over the Island of Karachi, which are tipped to become a massive real estate project.

Addressing to media on Thursday, the Governor once again clarified that Island will remain with Sindh and their revenue will go to it.

“We will not go ahead until we are on the same page as the Sindh government,” said Imran Ismail. “We have to move ahead together. If they are worried about the ordinance, revenue, environment, we will address them all.”

Commenting on studies and reaction of civil society and green activist, he said, “To date, no environmental study has been done on these islands.”

“All the people who are objecting to it have no environmental study on it. In 70 years, no environmental study exists on this island.”

He also criticised the architects and green activists who have been talking about the ecology they documented there.

“Everyone is just saying their own thing. Some people are talking about the turtles, some the mangroves, some the fish,” he said. “When actually there are no fish around this island because of the raw sewage.”

They will set up a raw sewage treatment plant, a desalination plant, he added. “It will be Pakistan’s first green city project.”

An estimated 150,000 people from every industry will get jobs, from engineers to construction companies to carpenters.

“We are estimating $50b on the project,” he added. “The whole world has shown interest in it. China, Malaysia have shown interest. And us, we are falling victim to confusion.”