All have to work hard for poverty alleviation, unemployment elimination: Shehbaz.

KARACHI -- Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday said all had to work hard for the development of all the provinces, poverty alleviation, and to eliminate unemployment.

The prime minister was chairing a high-level meeting here to discuss Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP)-related development projects in Sindh and outstanding issues between the federal and provincial governments, according to a statement issued by the Sindh chief minister's spokesperson.

The meeting was attended by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and his cabinet members, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Khuwaja Izhar and Kanwar Naveed of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, Khakan Abbasi, Ahsan Iqbal, Mariam Aurangzeb and Miftah Ismail of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Akram Durani and Maulana Assad Mahmood of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl. The chairmen of Water and Power Development Authority and National Disaster Management Authority, besides a number of federal secretaries were also present.

Shehbaz Sharif, who was on a day-long maiden visit to the Sindh metropolis after taking charge of the office, issued directives for early completion of K-IV bulk water project, construction of all the roads of the city's industrial areas, and financially support to the provincial government in the procurement of buses for BRT projects.

The prime minister was told that in 2016, the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project was recommended by the 6th Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) for inclusion in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects. The project was approved by ECNEC at a cost of Rs 207.546 billion in 2017 under CPEC funding. Now the project has been revised by ECNEC in 2022 for Rs.181 billion to be taken up under PPP (Private-Public Partnership) mode.

At this, Shehbaz Sharif said under the PPP mode the project would be delayed, and decided to include it in the CPEC projects.

At the outset of the meeting, the Sindh chief minister welcomed the PM, said in 2015 then prime minister Nawaz Sharif had chaired a meeting at the CM House in 2015.

'Your this meeting with the participation of all the partners will prove to be beneficial for the people of Pakistan, particularly of Sindh," he added.

The chief minister, P and D chairman and provincial ministers briefed the prime minister about different projects and issues.

The prime minister informed that the augmentation works of K-IV would cost Rs 52.34 billion. The augmentation works include connectivity of the outlet of...