Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Friday expressed strong dissatisfaction over delays and cost overruns plaguing some provincial development schemes, issuing a stark warning that negligence, inferior workmanship, and inadequate supervision would not be tolerated.
During a high-level meeting at CM House to review the province’s development portfolio, the chief minister ordered all departments to prioritise the completion and functionality of existing projects over the announcement of new ones.
‘Public money must translate into visible results on the ground. Every project must meet timelines, quality benchmarks, and service-delivery objectives,’ Mr Shah stated, instructing departments to reinforce internal accountability and monitoring mechanisms.
The assembly was attended by senior provincial ministers including Sharjeel Inam Memon and Saeed Ghani, Mayor Karachi Murtaza Wahab, and top bureaucrats led by Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah.
Chairman Planning and Development Board Najam Shah briefed the attendees, highlighting that Sindh’s development budget had grown substantially from Rs55 billion in 2008-09 to a projected Rs1,018 billion for 2025-26. The meeting was informed that of over 13,000 schemes initiated during this period, 9,193 have been completed across various sectors.
Progress on major post-flood initiatives under the Sindh Flood Emergency Rehabilitation Project (SFERP) was also scrutinised. This included the rehabilitation of 141 damaged roads spanning 825 kilometres, the restoration of 500 water supply schemes, and cash-for-work programmes that have benefited over 139,000 households. The chief minister mandated strict adherence to climate-resilient standards under the ‘Build Back Better’ approach.
Regarding urban renewal, the success of the Karachi Neighbourhood Improvement Project (KNIP) in upgrading local infrastructure was noted. Mr Shah stressed that such neighbourhood-level initiatives must be expanded to other urban centres based on their documented impact.
The meeting also reviewed the Sindh Municipal Services Delivery Programme (MSDP), which has improved water, wastewater, and solid waste management in Jacobabad. The chief minister directed local governments to ensure the long-term sustainability and proper maintenance of these new assets.
While commending the Planning and Development Department for embracing digitisation, including GPS-based tracking and QR codes for projects, the chief minister emphasised that technology must be used for real-time decision-making and corrective action, not merely for reporting.
Furthermore, Mr Shah ordered the strict enforcement of notified urban master plans to control unplanned urban expansion, protect public land, and guide future infrastructure investments.
Concluding the session, the chief minister issued a clear set of instructions: all departments must adhere to approved timelines and cost limits, ongoing projects must be finished before new ones are launched, and quality control with third-party validation must be strengthened.
‘I will not accept excuses; development is about delivery, so we have to deliver,’ he asserted, directing officials to ensure every undertaking contributes meaningfully to improving public services, economic activity, and resilience across Sindh.