LARKANA, Feb 28: President General Pervez Musharraf announced on Wednesday that the Super Highway will be converted into a six-lane motorway and the National Highway Authority (NHA) had been asked to make N5 a dual carriageway.

He was addressing a public meeting at the Hatti village, five kilometres from here, after performing the ground-breaking of a bridge over the Indus River.

He said that the Sehwan-Ratodero-Larkana Road, a 200 kilometre two-way road, would be completed at the cost of Rs12 billion within three years. He asked the NHA to connect the Larkana-Khairpur Bridge with Indus Highway.

President Musharraf said that reservoirs and dams would benefit Sindh because its subsoil water was at a low. “You should think it over,” he said and added that the government would construct all the dams to provide water to the tail-ends.

“I am Sindhi and with you and want to see Sindh making progress,” he said and added while referring to the opposition to Kalabagh Dam “I respect your opinion about the dam.”

The government wanted to see equal level of development on the left and right bank of the river, he said and announced construction of three more bridges over the river.

Mr Musharraf said that Larkana and Khairpur districts had spent Rs100 million and Rs120 million, respectively on small projects during four years of local government. The government would extend financial support to such projects in future, he said.

He announced a grant of Rs100 million each for Larkana and Khairpur districts and upgradation of Chandka Medical College (CMC) Larkana. The chief minister would do more in this context, he said.

He deplored the poor state of health centres and said “I want maximum medical facilities for the whole country.” He called for updating neurology and cardiology departments at Chandka Medical College Hospital (CMCH) and said that the centre would share expenses with the province in this connection.

The president said in response to the demand of district nazim that the railway ministry would be asked to undertake the study of Larkana-Jacobabad train service.

The ministry would also be asked to look into the demand for starting two fast trains from Karachi to Punjab, he said. All the district and tehsil headquarters would get gas supply, he said adding “we are trying to get gas from Iran along with exploring new fields.”

Mr Musharraf talked of safe drinking water and filtration plants facilities in the years to come and referred to a huge amount of Rs66 billion for the improvement of watercourses. Wapda had been asked to electrify all the villages, he said.

“In 2002 people were calling us a failed state but now no one could say it because we are on the path of progress and prosperity,” he remarked.

The faults in plans had converted Manchhar Lake into a toxic lake. It would once again be a sweet water lake within two years time after the completion of redesigned Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD), he assured

The president talked about Rozgar scheme and the government’s steps for controlling prices of essential items of daily use particularly sugar, pulses and ghee and said the government would establish more utility stores in the country.

Sindh Chief Minister Dr. Arbab Ghulam Rahim and Larkana District Nazim Muhammed Arijo also spoke on the occasion.

PETARO COLLEGE: Addressing the concluding ceremony of golden jubilee celebrations of Cadet College Petaro, 35 km from Hyderabad, on Wednesday, the president said that Pakistan lagged behind in the field of engineering, science and technology because they did not focus on this aspect of education in the past, reports APP.