LAHORE: Less than a month after the soft launch of the Ravi Riverfront Urban Development Project, Prime Minister Imran Khan during his visit to Lahore on Tuesday received a detailed briefing on the project, asked Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar to monitor it on a daily basis and “keep him in the loop”.

The prime minister, who arrived here at around 3pm, spent a busy few hours chairing some meetings in the city in which it was decided that Mr Khan himself would launch the project on September 15. The soft launch of the project was held earlier on Aug 7, during the last visit of the PM to Lahore.

While presiding over a meeting on Ravi River project, the prime minster directed the relevant officials that “international standards must be complied with, both in construction and environmental protection while executing the project. The project is not only vital for recharging Lahore aquifer, ensuring clean water supply to the city but equally important for kick-starting the construction sector in the country, which the PTI is trying hard to do.”

Flanked by CM Buzdar, Adviser to PM on Accountability and Interior Mirza Shahzad Akbar and Special Assistant to PM on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfiqar Bukhari, Naya Pakistan Housing Authority Chairman retired Lt Gen Anwar Ali Haider and project’s chief executive Raashid Aziz, Mr Khan maintained that the project would provide investment opportunities to “local and foreign investors and many foreign investors are already eying it”.

Punjab govt likely to present two-year performance report today

Governance committee

Later, the prime minister chaired a meeting of the recently formed provincial “Committee on Good Governance” in which senior members, including diehard PTI workers and leaders like Dr Yasmin Rashid, Murad Raas, Ansar Majeed, participated.

The committee, which is supposed to advise CM Buzdar on improving his governance, reviewed the steps taken by the Punjab government and also gave its recommendations to the provincial chief executive in PM’s presence.

This was a second meeting of the governance committee.

CM Buzdar also briefed the PM on his initiatives in the province and presented his two-year performance report.

After his nod, the Punjab government is expected to launch the report on Wednesday (today) with fanfare, matching the one with which federal government’s report on two-year performance was launched, to draw maximum political mileage out of it.

Mr Khan left for Islamabad by 7pm.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2020