Why Zardari forgot to open CPEC if he finalised it: Shahbaz

FAISALABAD: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Saturday said why Asif Ali Zardari forgot to inaugurate the CPEC or Gwadar projects if it was he who had finalised those.

Shahbaz, who was addressing a local government convention at the University of Agriculture, announced the establishment of the Information Technology and Skills University and metro bus project in the city.

He said work on the metro bus project would begin in the current year. “The elements, who are terming the speedy, secure and economical travelling facility as ‘jangla bus’, have planned to launch the same in their province after four years of useless agitation.” He said that the metro bus service had provided the best transport facility to labourers, orphans, widows, lawyers, clerks, and doctors and these people were reaching their destinations in a respectable manner. 

The chief minister said that the politics of agitation had badly damaged the country’s economy. He said that Bhikki power plant, Haveli Bahadur Shah gas power plant and Baloki gas power plant were nearing completion. The Bhikki power plant would start generating electricity from next week, he added. He said that the Neelum-Jhelum power plant was launched in 2002 but the project was still incomplete. The initial cost of the project was Rs80 billion, which had been increased to Rs500 billion, he added. 

He said that development of this textile city was imperative as it was the third largest industrial and business hub of the country. He said that the provincial government would allocate maximum possible funds for development of Faisalabad. The CM stressed the elected LG representatives to focus their full attention towards the solutions of citizens’ problems. District Council Chairman Ch Zahid Nazir, Mayor Abdur Razzaq Malik, deputy mayors Muhammad Amin Butt and Sh Muhammad Yousaf, MNAs, MPAs, Commissioner Momin Agha, DC Salman Ghani, CPO Afzal Ahmad and others were also present. 

Earlier, the CM inaugurated a 50-bed Children Hospital emergency block. State Minister for Water & Power Abid Sher Ali, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, Punjab Health Minister Khawaja Salman Rafiq and others were also present. He said that the hospital would be completed in September this year. He said that an expert was needed for providing quality healthcare to children in this hospital. The chief minister said: “I have contacted the high commissioner of Pakistan in the UK and asked him to contact the Pakistani doctors working in different parts of England. Our team will go to England within a week and the doctors would be brought to the Children Hospital on the salary acceptable to them.” He said that billions of dollars investment was being made in the CPEC under the leadership of PM Nawaz Sharif. He said that there was a need for unity to take maximum benefit of this investment. 

Similarly, the CM laid down the foundation stone of a 260-bed Haseeb Shaheed Hospital.

Meanwhile, CM Shahbaz Sharif inaugurated the country’s largest women hostel at the UAF. The hostel has the capacity to accommodate 1,000 students. The CM said the government was taking revolutionary steps to address the problems of common man with special focus on education, health and agriculture sectors.

He vowed to give laptops to those girls who would participate in making the city beautiful. The CM visited the residence of PML-N senior leader Ch Sher Ali and held a meeting with him. During the meeting, different matters of mutual interests as well as party matters came under discussion.