Shahbaz Sharif saved $100m by awarding contract to Turkish Cos: Azma Bukhari

LAHORE:Shahbaz Sharif has saved over US$ 100 million while awarding the contract to Turkish companies hired as contractors for Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) to clean the city, which today was turned into a complete mess due to the incompetence of the present rulers.

This was stated by PML-N Punjab spokesperson Azma Bukhari here on Friday while addressing a press conference. She said that the bids were received at US$ 424.37 million and were passed by the Board of Directors, which later sent the summary to the then CM Shahbaz Sharif for further negotiations. “Shahbaz Sharif negotiated with both the Turkish companies and saved more than $100 million of tax payers’ money,” she revealed and also showed the document to the media.

Criticizing the present government, Azma said that she would like to commend Aslam Iqbal as there were banners in his constituency, thanking him for making speed breakers. “In New Pakistan his performance is only making speed breakers. He does nothing else to show nor would he ever have anything else to show for his performance,” she said and sarcastically added that it seems that Shahbaz Sharif came out of jail in night, spread waste in Lahore and then goes back in the jail.

The present government is so much serious to perform that they could not accomplish anything and the only thing that they could achieve was to change Lahore into a dumping ground and now they were blaming Shahbaz Sharif for their incompetence, policy making and lack of administrative control.

“This is strange that still Aslam Iqbal lives in the 90s and thinking about to collect waste through handcarts,” she said. She further said that waste lifting was the job of the local government and the first thing that the PTI government did was attack on the local government. “Until now they did not have the courage to go for the local government elections,” she said.

“The government gave three different deadlines for waste lifting (from Lahore). Aslam Iqbal kept remembering 1980s and 1990s. They are such geniuses that they have nothing to do with the facts or experience. I request them (to consider) that in 1990s Lahore had an area of around 10 km and 4 million people were living here. Today, Lahore has spread to an area of around 40 to 50 km and the population of the city is 110 million. However, he (Aslam Iqbal) still lives in 90s and he wants to lift waste with animal carts,” Azma maintained.

She said the government was claiming that they can lift waste in few millions. “I challenge them to accomplish this task. You have shut off the LWMC and the international organizations which were working here. You have insulted, humiliated and kicked out the international organizations which were brought here after much struggle. Do not use billions to clean the city. Employ millions (as you claim) and do it. This is my challenge to you,” Azma stated. “Now I would like to bring to your attention that how the work was done in the LWMC. When Shahbaz Sharif government came into power then the same old techniques of waste lifting via animal carts were used. The typical old school methods were employed. Shahbaz Sharif invited international experts from abroad and sought recommendations from them to lift waste in a modern way. Machines, brushes, washing of roads were employed (to achieve this task). However, with as much effort (the PTI have now) destroyed this system. The motivation behind this was the grudge against Shahbaz. Because Shahbaz had invited these companies so they did it to the very same thing that they did to the CPEC project,” Azma described.

“They had been making (political) statements about the CPEC before coming into power. After coming into power their poor performance has affected the project. Practically, the CPEC has been rolled back from Pakistan. The Turkish companies have also rolled back from Pakistan,” she maintained

“Albayrak and OzPak did an excellent job, this is not something that I say. It is something that people of Lahore say and it is something that the comparative pictures of Old Pakistan and New Pakistan say. The waste management was done well and in a sophisticated way,” she stated while comparing the Shahbaz era with the present.

Soon after coming into power, the government in grudge of Shahbaz Sharif started chanting about ‘56 companies’. The thing that started with the 56 companies took a route through a dirty stream to wrongful allegations of the assets beyond means and subsequently, Shahbaz Sharif is in jail right now, she concluded.