Complete installation of Sukkur Barrage gates by June 30: CM
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HYDERABAD:
The Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, who reviewed the ongoing rehab of the damaged and old gates of Sukkur Barrage on Tuesday, has directed the officers to complete installation of 18 gates of the barrage before June 30. The timeframe has been given in view of the flood season.
Two of the gates of the barrage were washed away by the river water in June, 2024, while some other gates were also damaged. The government then embarked on an ambitious and expensive plan to rehab the barrage, which was built in 1930s and supplies water and irrigates agricultural land in Sukkur, Nawabshah and Hyderabad divisions.
The Sindh Barrages Improvement Project (SBIP) is funded through a loan from the World Bank, the contract of which was awarded for restoration and upgrade of the barrage in February, 2023.
Ghotki-kandhkot bridge
The CM visited the under-construction Ghotki-Kandhkot bridge in Kashmore-Kandhkot district and directed the officers to complete the piling work within three months. The bridge will connect the emerging industrial hub of Ghoti with Kandhkot which is along Pak-China Economic Corridor. The country’s largest oil and gas fields, power projects and fertiliser plants are located in the region.
“The new bridge will reduce the current travel distance from (existing) 151 kilometers to around 30 kilometers, boosting economic activity and regional trade,” Shah observed.
In view of the security threats from bandits of the riverbed areas, a contingent of Rangers and police has been deployed along the route of the construction.
Responding to the official complaints about encroachment on land which ought to be utilised for the bridge and its connecting roads, the CM directed the revenue and police departments to vacate the land and allow work to resume. The project is divided into three sections besides the Thull link road.
The section I is 10.44 kilometers long; section II 12.2 kilometers, section III 8.44 kilometers and the Thull link road is 4.548 kilometers.
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