PMLN completed 80pc of Green Line project’s infrastructure: Zubair

KARACHI: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN)’s central leader and former governor Sindh Mohammad Zubair claimed on Sunday that Prime Minister Imran Khan had announced Rs162 billion and Rs1,100 billion on separate occasions for Karachi during the past three years but the metropolis did not receive a single penny so far.

“The PMLN had launched several mega projects in Karachi, such as the Green Line Bus Rapid Transit project and completed 80 percent of work on its infrastructure but the PTI government has only ordered 40 buses from China for the project during its three-year rule,” said Zubair, while addressing a press conference at the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz House, along with the party’s provincial leaders Khawaja Tariq Nazir and Nasiruddin Mahmood.

"If we had not been forcibly expelled out in the polls, many buses would have come to Karachi”, he added. He said it was being claimed that the Green Line project was a plan of the PTI. “They should be ashamed and thank Nawaz Sharif," said Zubair, adding that the PMLN government wanted to get rid of the impression that the party carried out mega projects in Lahore only.

“That’s why we started big projects like the K-IV water project and Green Line in Karachi," he said. He said the PMLN government allocated significant funds for Karachi apart from the National Financial Commission (NFC) and started and completed two power projects at Port Qasim. He said likewise in Punjab, the federal government had installed its own signboards on the PMLN’s projects in Karachi.

“The Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project was part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) but now the prime minister has been coming to Karachi to lay its foundation." Interestingly, the-then Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid had also inaugurated the KCR, he added.

He also said peace was restored during the PMLN’s tenure in Karachi. “Before the PMLN formed the government in the Centre, bodies in bags were being found in Karachi on a daily basis but Nawaz Sharif established peace by launching stringent crackdown against the elements who destroyed peace in the metropolis,” he said.

The PMLN leader said Federal Minister Ali Zaidi on Saturday announced a project worth $5.3 billion. “Zaidi does not even know how many zeros are in $5.3 billion,” he said, adding: “Imran Khan is the most corrupt ruler in the history of Pakistan. His hands lie in the pockets of others.” He further said Imran Khan speaks of honesty all the time and asked if the prime minister is not corrupt, then he should tell the details of his gifts. He said the government does not take responsibility for anything including unemployment and inflation.