CHAKWAL, April 9: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Saturday predicted a very prosperous and industrial Pakistan in the next five years.

He was addressing the participants at Kahoon Valley here after laying foundation stones of three cement plants and one paper mill.

The cement plants will bring in $500 million foreign investment and create employment opportunities for around 50,000 people.

The prime minister also performed a ground-breaking to provide natural gas to the industrial units and adjoining areas.

He said that it was a red-letter day because an industrial revolution was dawning at the doorsteps of the people and a prosperous and stable Pakistan was just a matter of few years.

The prime minister was confident that 21,000 tons daily cement would be produced only from these three plants that would bring an economic change in this remote area. “Over 50,000 people will get jobs directly or indirectly from these projects.”

He said the completion of the plants would generate economic activity and improve infrastructure of the area. He said Pakistan could become a major exporter of cement to the regional countries with the completion of these projects. He said Pakistan was one of the major cement exporters for the reconstruction work in Afghanistan and added the local cement industry was already working at full capacity.

Mr Aziz said the government had successfully created an investment-friendly atmosphere to attract foreign investment in the country.

The prime minister announced that the areas adjoining the four industrial units would be provided natural gas, and said the federal and provincial governments besides the investors would share funds for the construction of road network around the area. He promised that the environment of the area would be protected after the establishment of cement plants.

He appreciated Sir Anwar Pervez, owner of Bestway Cement and one of the top industrialists in the United Kingdom, for investing in the industrial sector of Pakistan.

Earlier, the prime minister laid foundation stone of the Chakwal cement plant at village Karolli, Bestway Cement plant at Tatral, gas supply at Khairpur and DG cement plant, and Nishat Papers Mills, a joint project of Kuwait’s multinational company Al-Shoiba and Nishat Group of Pakistan.

Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool, Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, Nishat Group chief executive Raza Mansha, Chakwal Cement chief executive Ahmad Hashmat, Bestway Cement chief executive Zamir Muhammad Chaudary and Shoaiba Company vice-chairman Faisal Al-Awadi also spoke on the occasion.