KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has urged the British government to trace out the engineers and the firm which had constructed one of the largest irrigation systems of its kind in the world at Sukkur from 1923 to 1932.

Though the barrage had completed its life the Sindh government had planned to rehabilitate it after having its survey conducted through World Bank experts, said the chief minister during a meeting with British Minister of State for Trade and Investment and Minister for London Greg Hands who called on him at the CM House on Wednesday.

He said the construction of a new barrage was a gigantic task and till the time it was undertaken the existing structure could be given a new lease of life for 20 to 25 years if it was rehabilitated by the same firm and experts who had originally built it.

“It doesn’t matter if the British government cannot extend financial support it can still help us trace out the firm and its experts who had constructed the barrage so that their expertise could be used to rehabilitate the structure,” he said.

The meeting discussed different avenues of investment and the chief minister told the British minister and the diplomats accompanying him that if proper investment was made Sindh’s wind and solar corridor had the capacity to generate 50,000MW electricity.

British Minister Greg Hands took note of the matter taken up by the chief minister and assured him of exploring ways and means to open avenues of investment in Sindh.

He showed his interest in investment in tourism and Moenjodaro to make it a leading tourist destination.

The chief minister nominated chairman of Planning and Development Board Mohammad Waseem to coordinate with British High Commission to work on the various proposals discussed in the meeting.

The British minister was accompanied by British High Commissioner to Pakistan, acting Deputy High Commissioner in Karachi, private secretary, head of trade and head of trade London.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2017