PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari gives a presentation on governance in Sindh at Awan-e-Sadr. Photo: PPI
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Thursday outlined the performance of the Sindh government since 2008, highlighting the progress made in the areas of health, education, poverty alleviation, infrastructure, industry, agriculture and revenue generation, while proposing decentralization of sales tax collection to the provinces to address the country’s fiscal challenges.
Making a detailed presentation on provincial governance during the presidency, Bilawal said Sindh was often described as a “glass half empty” province, but maintained that the PPP-led government had gradually strengthened institutions and expanded service delivery.
He noted that since coming to power in 2008, the party has obtained a broader mandate in each subsequent provincial election.
The event was attended by Acting President Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, members of the Sindh cabinet, parliamentarians, business representatives, diplomats and journalists.
Focusing on healthcare, the PPP chairman said Sindh had increased allocations to the health sector from 2.9 percent of the provincial budget in 2008 to almost 10 percent currently. He highlighted the expansion of major public hospitals, including the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC), where bed capacity has 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), was now operating 11 specialist 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 over 35 million patients had benefited from its services since 2008, while the bed capacity had increased from 760 to 1,926.
Bilawal said the Gambat Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) had successfully performed 1,362 liver transplants, while the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Institute of Trauma (SMBBIT) had become the largest trauma center in South Asia, treating over 175,000 trauma patients every year. He added that Sindh’s infant mortality rate stood at 2.9%, far below the national average of 5.45%.
Regarding the education sector, the PPP chairman said the number of public universities in Sindh had increased from 10 in 2008 to 30 today, along with 18 more university campuses across the province.
On poverty alleviation, he said the Sindh Rural Support Organization (SRSO) program 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 were completed, while around 1.5 million were under construction. He said the project had created nearly a million jobs, helping to reduce unemployment and poverty.
In the agriculture sector, he said the provincial government distributed wheat seeds 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 benefited from the Benazir Hari Card scheme, while a Rs56 billion wheat growers support scheme brought nearly 1.96 million acres under cultivation. He pointed out that Sindh operated the largest irrigation system in the world, with over 4,000 kilometers of canals.
Addressing access and mobility, he said Sindh had a road network of around 57,000 kilometers, including 24,148 kilometers of newly constructed roads. He added that until 2008, there were only five bridges over the Indus River in Sindh and four more bridges had since been constructed.
Bilawal said public transport was virtually absent in the province before 2008, but PPP-led initiatives now facilitated daily travel for more than 200,000 passengers, including the introduction of electric buses.
He added that 202,000 workers had been registered under the Benazir Mazdoor Card scheme.
On energy, he said Sindh had the potential to produce 50,000 megawatts of wind power, alongside vast solar capacity. Currently, 1,845 MW were produced from wind projects. He said 200,000 solar home systems had already been provided to households, with a further 275,000 homes expected 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 the jobs going to Thar residents.
The PPP chairman also highlighted environmental gains, saying mangrove forest cover in Sindh had increased from 270,000 acres to a record 675,000 acres.
On revenue generation, he said the Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) collected Rs 28 billion in 2011 compared to Rs 10 billion by the Federal Board of Revenue in 2010, an increase of 68 per cent over the then federal collections, and Rs 307 billion in sales tax on services by 2024. He said the SRB’s 19 per cent average annual growth rate far exceeded the 10% of the Federal Revenue Council.
Calling for tax reforms, Bilawal Bhutto proposed handing over the collection of sales tax on goods to the provinces, arguing that provincial tax authorities had consistently outperformed the FBR and could help bridge the federal budget deficit while strengthening economic self-sufficiency.
Earlier, Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said the people of Sindh had repeatedly renewed their faith in the Pakistan People’s Party by electing it to the government, describing the mandate as an endorsement of the party’s long-standing commitment to public service.
He said the governance philosophy of the PPP, anchored in the vision of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto, was focused on empowering the most marginalized sections of society through inclusive development and people-centric policies.
