KARACHI: At least $10 billion are required to improve infrastructure of Karachi to bring it at par with international standards in the next decade, said Sindh Chief Secretary Mumtaz Ali Shah on Monday.

Talking to media at his office, the top provincial bureaucrat, who is due to retire soon, said that after considerable improvement in the law and order situation due to Karachi Operation, another major challenge waslack of proper infrastructure in the provincial capital.

He pointed out that there were at least six mass transit projects being jointly carried out by the Sindh and federal governments that would likely to be completed in eight to 10 years coupled with the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR). He expressed the hope that when those mass transit projects would be integrated with the KCR, the problem of commuting would be minimised. During the intervening period, the major project of water provision, K-IV, would also likely to be completed to provide drinking water facility to the increasing population of the city, he added.

The chief secretary revealed that a restructuring plan of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) was also under way and hinted that under the proposed plan; chief executive officer or head of the water body might be selected from the private sector to run it in an effective manner.

Answering a question, he said there might be fair share of criticism over continuity of the system or government in Sindh for the past 14 years, but there were also positive aspects.

One of the important things was Thar coal project whose achievement became possible mainly because of continuation of the government in the province. The coal project development had led massive infrastructure uplift in the desert where even an airport facility had been provided.

Another good thing to be noted was introduction of the `public-private partnership` (PPP) mode whose first project had been the highway between HyderabadandMirpurkhas.

The cost of the road had not only been recovered, but now the both private sector and the Sindh government were earning profits from the project.

He regretted that barring Karachi, there were no industries in other major cities or rural areas of the province.

The chief secretary said there might be many reasons behind lack of industrial development in other parts of the province, but major reason was `polarisation` in Sindh as industrialists or entrepreneurs of Karachi seemed reluctant to develop industries there.