|
|
|
| September 18, 2005 | Sunday | Sha'aban 13, 1426 |
CM pledges Rs1bn for Pindi uplift
GUJAR KHAN, Sept 17: The Punjab Chief Minister, Chaudhry Pervaiz Ellahi, on Saturday pledged to provide Rs1 billion to the next local government for undertaking various development projects in all tehsils of Rawalpindi city district.
He made this pledge while speaking at a public gathering after inaugurating a subway shopping mall in Gujar Khan, constructed by the National Highway Authority.
“The improvement of road network is the key to progress and more subways would be constructed in other cities to facilitate the pedestrians”, he said.
Chief Minister Ellahi appreciated the subway mall and said that this would not only ensure uninterrupted flow of traffic but would help curb the road accidents.
He said that the construction of this project would boost the economic progress and generate employment opportunities to the local people.
The chief minister said that a package of Rs1 billion given in the past two years covered a number of development projects in tehsil Gujar Khan.
He said that tehsil Murree was given a package of Rs200 million while Rs700 million are being spent for provision of gas facility to the people of Murree. Half of the total cost — Rs350 million — will be provided by the federal government. He hoped that the residents of Murree would get gas facility next year.
The chief minister said that new sites for building more small dams were being selected in order to provide irrigation water to barren lands to increase agriculture produce in the Potohar region. He said that during last year four small dams were constructed.
The chief minister said that his government was laying emphasis on the improvement of education, health and public health engineering departments.
Mr Elahi said his government has spent Rs350 million on education and has decided to provided textbooks free of cost to students from class one upto matric in 64,000 schools from October 1.
In health sector the chief minister said that Rs250 million were allocated for upgradation of district and tehsil headquarters hospitals. He added that rural health centres would be upgraded to ensure maximum health care to the public at their door steps.
He said $2 billion investment has been made in industrial sector in Chakwal district.
Federal Minister for Communication Shamim Siddiqui said that the NHA was making efforts to improve the road network across the country.
The minister said that Gujar Khan underpass was the most beautiful subway shopping mall in the country and it would help in generating economic activity in the area. The minister said that 20 to 25 precious lives were lost in accidents every year in Gujar Khan, but now with the construction of the bypass the ratio of accidents would be minimized to a great extent.
The minister said that underpasses would be constructed at all the link roads on the N-5.
The minister said the government has started several mega-projects, including Mekran coastal highway and Gwadar deep-sea port at a cost of Rs240 billion to augment the process of economic development in the country. He said the process of dualization of N-5 is in the final stages, while the existing highways network is also being widened at several places.
A large portion of the 1,800-km GT Road has been dualized. He said that upto 2007 the entire project would be completed. He said that World Bank has promised $2 billion for the improvement of the road network in the country.
Federal Minister for Information during his address said that the local body system was ideal for development and political participation of the masses at grass-roots level.
Earlier the chief minister inaugurated the shopping mall. Federal Minister for Labour and Manpower, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Minister of State for Interior Senator Waseem Shehzad, Provincial Minister for Law Basharat Raja, Punjab Minister for PHED Mushtaq Ahmed Kiani, MPA Samina Jadoon, Raja Hamid Nawaz, Raja Tariq Murtaza, NHA Chairman Maj-Gen Farrukh Jawaid, federal secretary for communications Tariq Mahmood, NHA member operations Azizul Haq Mirza and other officers were also present on the occasion.
|
|
|
|
