24 April 2005	Sunday	14 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426

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MULTAN, April 23: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz announced on Saturday the construction work on the motorway between Faisalabad and Multan (M-4) will soon be taken in hand. He was speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony of a new bridge over the Chenab between Multan and Muzaffargarh near Sher Shah on Saturday. The bridge will be completed within 30 months with an estimated cost of Rs846 million.

He also announced the approval of a four-lane road between Multan and Muzaffargarh, besides construction of a bypass in the latter district for the smooth flow of vehicular traffic on the inter-provincial road.

He said economic reforms of the government had enabled the country to launch mega development projects in backward areas to bring them on a par with the developed areas.

Expressing satisfaction over what he said the record production of 15 million cotton bales in 2004-5, he hoped that the country would also harvest a record wheat crop of 22 million tons this year.

The bumper crop would help rationalize the flour prices, he said and added, this would ultimately bring down inflation.

To boost the cotton production, he said the government had enhanced the minimum procurement price of phutti to Rs975 per 40kg for the coming cotton season compared to last year’s price of Rs925 per 40kg. The government was also trying to rationalize the agricultural input prices.

The PM urged the people to elect better people in the forthcoming local-body polls and in the general elections in 2007.

He further announced that about 100 villages in Muzaffargarh would be electrified under the Khushhal Pakistan Programme.

Earlier, Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi lauded prime minister’s economic vision and claimed that by virtue of this the development pace in the country had picked up.

The CM said his government had allocated 11 per cent more funds for the south Punjab. He announced allocation of Rs300 million for the sewerage system in Jatoi and Alipur tehsils of Muzaffargarh. He said the Muzaffargarh bypass would jointly be built by federal and the provincial governments.

He slated the PPP and declared it responsible for the disintegration of the country. He said the PPP had committed a ‘national crime’ by nationalizing the industry in the 1970s. He urged the PML cadre not to be afraid of the PPP and instead create unity in their ranks to face challenges of the LB and general elections.

State Minister for Communications Engrr Shahid Jameel briefed the audience on the Sher Shah bridge project. He said the bridge would be one-kilometre-long while three-kilometre-long approach roads would also be the part of the project. There would be four service lanes on the bridge to accommodate a two-way traffic.

He said about 850kms roads would be improved in the country under the National Highway Improvement Programme.

Federal ministers Sikander Hayat Bosan, Jehangir Tareen and Shamim Saddiqui were also present. The PM also visited Kandh Sharif and Sinawah area of the Muzaffargarh. In Sinawah, he inaugurated the wheat harvesting drive at the farm of state minister Hina Rabbani Khar.