ATTOCK, April 8: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said that various development projects were being implemented in Attock district to improve the living standards of the people.

He said this while addressing a public meeting near Ghourghusti village after performing ground-breaking of Chacch interchange, about 52km from Islamabad and inaugurating construction work of an environmental park by planting a sapling in the park.

The park, being developed jointly by Ministry of Environment, Wapda and Pakistan Forest Institute over an area of 5.76 acres, would be completed in three years at a cost of Rs108 million.

The prime minister announced a grant of Rs50 million for the development projects of the area, which will be in addition to the funds of Rs1 billion already provided by the federal government for the development of the area.

The work on the interchange will be completed by January next year at a cost of Rs419 million and provide access to Ghazi, Hazro, Ghourghushti, Nartopa, Bahbudi, Tarbella and other adjoining areas to the Islamabad-Peshawar section of Motorway. The M-I will be completed by August at a cost of Rs13.26 billion and will have 22 flyovers, 33 bridges and 85 underpasses on various spots for providing free movement to the traffic.

A service road will also be constructed along side the interchange for the benefit of the local commuters.

The prime minister said the interchange would provide access to the area with the Motorway and boost trade and economic activities and will reduce the cost of goods’ transportation to the markets.

He said, the government had launched various mega projects for improving the national logistics to provide ‘trade corridor’ through availability of fast, smooth and reliable road network.

While referring to the ground-breaking of new Islamabad International Airport at Fatehjang by President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Saturday, the prime minister said it would change the fate of the area as the project would generate thousands of jobs for the local people.

He said the completion of the new airport building would open new avenues of progress and prosperity in the area and it would also provide a direct link with the world.

He said, all efforts are being made to address the public problems and improve their living standard by implementing mega projects.

Long-term economical and other viable policies had been implemented to meet the difficult challenges like sustaining and accelerating growth momentum, creating employment opportunities, reducing poverty, and improving physical infrastructure to make Pakistan a prosperous and developed leading country among the world, he claimed.

He thanked the people of Attock for electing him member of parliament from this constituency and claimed that he had fulfilled all the promises he had made with his voters.

Earlier, Minister of State for Environment Malik Amin Aslam in his welcome address thanked president Musharraf and Prime minister Aziz for taking personal interest in the development of Attock district.

He demanded construction of an overhead bridge at Mari village, a railway crossing on main track near Romian Village and a drainage system at Hazro section of the M-1 to drain the flood water besides allocation of sufficient job quota for the youth in the new airport project.

Speaking on the occasion Attock District Nazim Maj (retd) Tahir Sadik claimed that like the previous elections, PML would clean sweep in the district in the forthcoming general elections.

The public meeting was also attended by Federal ministers Shamim Siddiqui, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Muhammad Ali Durrani, Omar Ayub Khan and Special Adviser to the Prime Minister Commander Khalilur Rehman.