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Thursday March 28, 2024

PM dares those cursing to bring no-trust, dissolve KP Assembly

By our correspondents
January 21, 2018

BHAKKAR/FAISALABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Saturday challenged those cursing the Parliament to bring a no-confidence motion in the National Assembly against him and dissolve the provincial (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) assembly.

The prime minister was addressing a gathering at Sports Stadium in connection with the launch of Prime Minister's National Health Programme in Bhakkar district.

During his visit, he also performed the groundbreaking of a bridge on Indus River to connect Bhakkar and DI Khan. Costing Rs7 billion, the bridge would establish a new road link between Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces to facilitate the transportation of agricultural produces and other goods.

Abbasi said the large rally had proved that the sit-in politics had been rejected by the people who were standing with the PML-N government.

He said the rival political parties had also power in some provinces but they failed to deliver despite making tall claims. The PML-N had always stressed unity among the provinces, he added.

Abbasi said they faced sit-ins, cases in court and many other difficulties but never backtracked and completed many mega projects.

He said the PML-N took the responsibility of solving the people’s problems. “We have never backed down from working for the people. The amount of work PML-N has done has been unprecedented in Pakistan’s history.”

“We are buildings roads for the people for Pakistan. Go to any village and you will see the amount of work the [Punjab] government has done for the people,” he added.

The prime minister also announced electricity and gas supply schemes for Kallur Kot and Darya Khan, and said the work on these would start before the 2018 general elections.

The construction of bridge on Indus River would be funded by the federal government would fund and Rs400 million has already been allocated for it during fiscal year 2017-18

Currently, there are 15 crossing points over River Indus with none – including bridges, barrages and head works – being wider than 20 feet which is insufficient to accommodate the traffic congestion and load.

The bridge will link Kallur Kot tehsil of Bhakkar and DI Khan’s Dhaki area by reducing the distance from 80 kilometres to just 15 kilometres. Other linking point between Kallur Kot and Dhaki is DI Khan-Darya Khan bridge and it takes around two and half hours to cover the distance of 126 kilometres.

Under the project, the four-lane bridge would be 1.28 kilometres long and the total stretch of roads on both the carriageways would be around 14.2 kilometres. The design life of the bridge is 100 years with the traffic speed to be set at 100 kilometres per hour.

The project would take around 18 months to complete. Being a component of China Pakistan Economic Corridor, the bridge will be linked with DI Khan-Islamabad motorway.

Earlier in the day, Abbasi inaugurated the international terminal at Faisalabad airport at a cost of Rs 1.3 billion. After the expansion, the airport building now covers an area of 73,000 sq feet.