MUZAFFARABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Friday expressed confidence about the future of his party and declared that people would again elect the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz to power in the general elections next year.

“We are not afraid of any conspiracy. We have come with the power of the people and Allah willing the same power will again return the PML-N to power on July 15, 2018,” he said in his speech at the inauguration ceremony of the 147-megawatt Patrind hydropower project here.

The project has been completed by a South Korean company at a cost of $346 million.

“We are not political orphans. The record of our government stands out. We do not need support in this regard,” the prime minister added.

“These days I am coming across speculations over whether or not the government will complete its term. I have a submission for these gentlemen. Please carry on your wheeler-dealer ways; the government will complete its term till June 1 and [until then] every week a new mega project will be inaugurated,” he said.

“Then, whoever wants to fight us should do so in the electoral field on July 15, 2018,” he added.

Inaugurates Patrind hydropower project

The prime minister said the people of Pakistan knew very well “who has been delivering and who has just been gossiping about others”.

“We have never abused or defamed anyone; nor have we ever raised hollow slogans. We have shown our performance on the ground,” he asserted.

He listed one by one several sectors where, according to him, the PML-N government had delivered to the satisfaction of the masses.

“Today you visit any province or city, you will find the PML-N projects,” he said.

Referring to the energy sector, he claimed that Pakistan was now self-sufficient in electricity. “There is no doubt that now our capacity to produce electricity is more than our demand, not only in winter, but also in summer.

“The projects that have been commissioned or are in the pipeline will meet energy needs of Pakistan till 2030.”

Drawing a comparison between “the governments coming to power from 2000 to 2013 and the one that came to power in 2013”, he pointed out that in 2013 the total electricity production in the country stood at 20,000-22,000MW, including generation from Mangla and Tarbela dams.

“By the grace of Allah, this government has produced more than 4,500MW in four and a half years and not only that projects worth several thousand megawatts are under construction,” he said.

“There is a long queue of projects over the Jhelum river,” he said, adding that the first phase of Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project would be completed by February while the second phase was likely to be completed by May 2018.

Mr Abbasi said these projects had remained unattended for decades as nobody bothered to initiate, let alone, complete them.

It was the government of Nawaz Sharif and the PML-N that completed these projects with a great deal of effort and endeavour, he maintained.

“I challenge those who take part in TV talk shows to provide me a list of power plants, dams, canals, highways they initiated or completed between 2000 and 2013, and the whole picture will be clear,” he said.

Referring to the Lowari Tunnel, he said that the project remained in limbo for 45 years, but the PML-N government completed it by spending Rs 28 billion on it.

Similarly, he said, the Bhasha dam project saw groundbreaking ceremonies by some five previous governments, but the PML-N government actively took up the project.

“I am fully confident that construction work will begin soon because it’s the country’s requirement. We have to store water and use it for irrigation purposes.”

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2017