LAHORE, May 13: The Punjab government will soon launch a number of multimillion-rupee projects in Lahore in an attempt to outmatch previous governments in performance.

Financial commitments for the proposed projects have already been obtained, Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi told Dawn here on Tuesday.

Instructions for the projects have been given by PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Husain, who has already declared that the party would run the government, not vice versa.

According to the chief minister, a number of overhead bridges or underpasses would be constructed in the Punjab capital to ensure smooth traffic and save time the people have to spend at crossings.

The chief minister said overhead bridges or underpasses had been planned for Charing Cross, GPO Chowk and Qurtaba Chowk, which are among the busiest crossings of the city of seven million people.

Four more overhead bridges or underpasses would be set up between Aitchison College and the motorway.

A new road has been planned between Yateem Khana Chowk and Lahore Airport, which will cost the government Rs400 million. This road will cut the travel time between the two points to 15 minutes.

Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi said that with the completion of these projects, the Punjab capital would have a new outlook.

He said unlike the roads constructed during the period of Mian Shahbaz Sharif, the proposed roads would not be a burden on the exchequer.

He said the provincial government had been paying hefty amounts for the past three years to clear the debts acquired to complete various roads and still debts worth Rs700 million were outstanding.

Meanwhile, PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Husain on Tuesday presided over a party meeting to discuss development projects for Lahore.

According to a press release, Mr Shujaat said that in the past most of the development projects were launched in posh areas, ignoring the backward localities which needed such undertakings most. Now, he said, backward areas would be given priority.

The meeting was held at the residence of Mian Meraj Din, senior vice-president of party’s Punjab organization.

Senator Kamil Ali Agha, Akhtar Rasool, Mian Abdus Sattar, Mian Munir, Mian Fazle Haq, Tariq Aziz, Khwaja Riaz Mehmud and Arshad Imran Suleri were among participants.