Bilawal highlights Sindh's progress in major sectors, says public service top priority of PPP govt

Islamabad (Web Desk): Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Thursday shared a detailed overview of Sindh government’s performance since 2008, pointing to gains in health, education, poverty reduction, infrastructure, agriculture, industry and revenue collection, while also calling for the responsibility of collecting sales tax to be handed over to the provinces to help fix Pakistan’s financial imbalance.

Speaking at a presentation held at the Presidency in Islamabad, Bilawal said Sindh was frequently portrayed in a negative light, but argued that under the PPP, the province had made steady institutional progress and widened the reach of public services.

He added that since first forming the government in 2008, the party had gone on to secure stronger mandates in every provincial election.

The event was attended by Acting President Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, Sindh cabinet members, parliamentarians, diplomats, business leaders and journalists.

Turning to healthcare, Bilawal said the province’s health budget had grown from 2.9 per cent in 2008 to almost 10 per cent today. He highlighted the expansion of public hospitals, especially the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where bed strength increased from 1,100 to 2,200 by 2025 and is planned to reach 3,100 by 2028.

Bilawal said the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, also known as the Sindh Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, now runs 11 specialised hospitals and 30 chest pain units across the province, ensuring quicker access to lifesaving cardiac treatment.

The PPP chief also noted that the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation had treated more than 35 million patients since 2008 and expanded its bed capacity from 760 to 1,926.

He further said the Gambat Institute of Medical Sciences had carried out 1,362 liver transplants, while the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Institute of Trauma had become the largest trauma facility in South Asia, treating over 175,000 patients every year. Bilawal added that Sindh’s infant mortality rate stood at 2.9 per cent, much lower than the national figure of 5.45 per cent.

On education, he said Sindh now had 30 public universities compared to just 10 in 2008, along with 18 additional campuses spread across the province.

Addressing poverty, the PPP chief said that the Sindh Rural Support Organisation had enabled 1.4 million women to rise out of poverty through soft loans, achieving a repayment rate of 98 per cent.

Recalling the floods of 2022, Bilawal said about 2.1 million homes were destroyed. In response, the provincial government launched a massive housing programme to build the same number of climate-resilient houses. So far, 750,000 homes had been completed and nearly 1.5 million were under construction, creating close to one million jobs and easing unemployment and poverty

In agriculture, he said wheat seed worth more than Rs2.1 billion was distributed to 215,000 farmers after the floods, which led to a record wheat crop of 4.5 million tonnes in the next season. He added that 198,000 farmers benefited from the Benazir Hari Card, while a Rs56 billion wheat support package helped cultivation on nearly 1.96 million acres. Bilawal also pointed out that Sindh operates the world’s largest irrigation network, spanning more than 4,000 kilometres of canals.

Discussing connectivity, the PPP chief said Sindh now has around 57,000 kilometres of roads, including 24,148 kilometres built in recent years. He added that before 2008 there were only five bridges over the Indus in the province, and four more had since been constructed.

Bilawal said public transport was almost non-existent in Sindh before 2008, but today more than 200,000 people travel daily through services launched by the PPP, including electric buses. He also noted that 202,000 workers had been enrolled under the Benazir Mazdoor Card scheme.

On energy, he said Sindh holds the potential to produce 50,000 megawatts of wind power along with vast solar capacity. At present, wind projects were generating 1,845 megawatts. He added that 200,000 households had already received solar home systems, with another 275,000 to be provided soon.

Bilawa said Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and public-private partnerships were key pillars of Sindh’s development approach, citing the Dhabeji Special Economic Zone as an internationally recognised project. 
He described the Thar coal initiative as a successful PPP model that adds to national electricity supply while providing jobs to locals, with 71 per cent of its workforce drawn from Thar.

On the environmental front, the PPP chairman said mangrove forests in Sindh had expanded from 270,000 acres to a historic 675,000 acres.

Speaking on revenue, Bilawal said the Sindh Revenue Board collected Rs28 billion in 2011 compared to the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) Rs10 billion in 2010, showing a 68 per cent stronger performance at the time. By 2024, SRB’s sales tax on services had reached Rs307 billion, growing at an annual average of 19 per cent, compared to the FBR’s 10 per cent.

He concluded by urging that sales tax on goods should also be devolved to the provinces, saying provincial revenue bodies had proven more efficient and could help narrow the federal fiscal gap while promoting economic self-reliance.

Earlier, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said that the people of Sindh had repeatedly placed their trust in the PPP by voting it into power.

The Sindh CM described this as a reflection of the party’s deep-rooted commitment to public service and said its governance vision, inspired by Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto, was centred on inclusive growth and uplifting the most disadvantaged segments of society.