PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari gives a presentation on governance in Sindh at Awan-e-Sadr. Photo: PPI
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Thursday outlined the Sindh government’s performance since 2008, highlighting progress in healthcare, education, poverty alleviation, infrastructure, industry, agriculture and revenue generation, while proposing devolution of sales tax collection to the provinces to address the country’s fiscal challenges.
Giving a detailed presentation on provincial governance at the Presidency, Bilawal said Sindh was often portrayed as a “glass half empty” province, but maintained that the PPP-led government had steadily strengthened institutions and expanded service delivery.
He noted that since assuming office in 2008, the party had received a larger mandate in every subsequent provincial election.
The event was attended by Acting President Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, members of the Sindh cabinet, parliamentarians, representatives of the business community, diplomats, and media persons.
Focusing on healthcare, The PPP chairman said Sindh had increased health sector allocations from 2.9 per cent of the provincial budget in 2008 to nearly 10pc at present. He highlighted the expansion of major public hospitals, including the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), where bed capacity had doubled from 1,100 to 2,200 by 2025, with a target of 3,100 beds by 2028.
He said the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), also known as the Sindh Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (SICVD), now operated 11 specialised hospitals and 30 chest pain units across the province, significantly improving access to emergency cardiac care. Referring to the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT), he said more than 35 million patients had benefited from its services since 2008, while bed capacity had increased from 760 to 1,926.
Bilawal said the Gambat Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) had successfully carried out 1,362 liver transplants, while the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Institute of Trauma (SMBBIT) had emerged as the largest trauma centre in South Asia, treating over 175,000 trauma patients annually. He added that Sindh’s infant mortality rate stood at 2.9%, well below the national average of 5.45%.
As regards education sector, the PPP chairman said the number of public universities in Sindh had risen from 10 in 2008 to 30 today, along with 18 additional university campuses across the province.
On poverty alleviation, he said the Sindh Rural Support Organisation (SRSO) programme had helped lift 1.4 million women out of poverty through soft loans, with a recovery rate of 98%. Recalling the devastating floods of 2022, Bilawal Bhutto said around 2.1 million houses were destroyed across the province. In response, the Sindh government launched a massive housing initiative to build 2.1 million climate-resilient homes. Of these, 750,000 had been completed, while around 1.5 million were under construction. He said the project had created nearly one million jobs, contributing to reduced unemployment and poverty.
In the agriculture sector, he said the provincial government distributed wheat seed worth over Rs2.1 billion to 215,000 farmers following the floods, leading to a bumper wheat harvest of 4.5 million tonnes the following season. He added that 198,000 farmers had benefited from the Benazir Hari Card programme, while a Rs56bn wheat growers’ support package enabled cultivation on nearly 1.96 million acres. He noted that Sindh operated the world’s largest irrigation system, with more than 4,000 kilometres of canals.
Discussing access and mobility, he said Sindh had a road network of about 57,000 kilometres, including 24,148 kilometres of newly constructed roads. He added that until 2008 there were only five bridges over the River Indus in Sindh, and that four additional bridges had since been built.
Bilawal said public transport was virtually absent in the province before 2008, but PPP-led initiatives now facilitated daily travel for over 200,000 passengers, including through the introduction of electric buses.
He added that 202,000 workers had been registered under the Benazir Mazdoor Card programme.
On energy, he said Sindh had the potential to generate 50,000 megawatts of wind energy, alongside vast solar capacity. Currently, 1,845MW was being produced from wind projects. He said 200,000 solar home systems had already been provided to households, with another 275,000 homes set to be solarised.
He said Special Economic Zones and public-private partnerships were a defining feature of the Sindh government, noting that projects such as the Dhabeji Special Economic Zone had received international recognition. He cited the Thar coal project as a successful PPP model that contributed to national power generation while creating local employment, with 71% of jobs going to residents of Thar.
The PPP chairman also highlighted environmental gains, saying mangrove forest cover in Sindh had expanded from 270,000 acres to a record 675,000 acres.
Addressing revenue generation, he said the Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) had collected Rs28 billion in 2011, compared to Rs 10 billion collection by the Federal Board of Revenue in 2010, a 68% increase over federal collections at the time, and Rs307 billion in sales tax on services by 2024. He said SRB’s average annual growth rate of 19% far exceeded the Federal Board of Revenue’s 10%.
Calling for fiscal reforms, Bilawal Bhutto proposed devolving the collection of sales tax on goods to provinces, arguing that provincial revenue authorities had consistently outperformed the FBR and could help bridge the federal fiscal gap while strengthening economic self-sufficiency.
Earlier, Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said the people of Sindh had repeatedly reposed their trust in the Pakistan Peoples Party by electing it to government, describing the mandate as an endorsement of the party’s longstanding commitment to public service.
He said the PPP’s governance philosophy, rooted in the vision of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto, focused on empowering the most marginalised sections of society through inclusive development and people-centred policies.
