KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah presiding over a cabinet meeting on Thursday approved several initiatives, including launching the Hub Canal project using provincial government resources, additionally, 100 acres of land was allocated for Inclusive City for persons with disabilities.
The cabinet meeting also reviewed the decision to impose property tax collection in cantonment board areas, acquire 50 electric buses on a Rent Own Financial Model, launch S-BOSS for a consolidated business registry, and form a Sindh-based home workers council.
The meeting was held at CM House and was attended by provincial ministers, advisors, the chief secretary, the chairman P&D, SMBR concerned secretaries and others.
Hub Canal Project: The Sindh Chief Minister taking a policy decision in the interest of Karachi decided to rehabilitate Hum Canal through his government funding.
Karachi has two major water supply sources – the Indus River through Kinjhar Lake providing about 570 million Gallons Daily (MGD) water and Hub Dam. Hub Canal built in 1982-84 has outlived its life and its capacity reduced from 100 MGDs to 70 MGDs for many reasons. Some of the large areas of Karachi, including but not limited to, Orangi, Baldia, Keamari, SITE and New Karachi, depended upon the water supply from Hub Canal.
The cabinet was told that an effort was made to undertake the Hub Canal Rehabilitation Project under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) for Rs75 billion in PPP mode but the project could not move forward.
The water board has submitted a proposal to rehabilitate the existing Hub Canal and construct a New Canal of 100 MGD parallel to the existing one.
The proposal has a financial cost for constructing the New Canal and rehabilitating the existing Canal for Rs. 9.8 billion and Rs. 2.92 billion respectively
The cabinet approved the proposal and directed the water board to expedite the process and start the work.
Imposition of Property Tax in Cantonment Areas: The cabinet approved a plan to levy and collect property tax from the cantonment areas as per Supreme Court decisions.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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