ISLAMABAD, Oct 14: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Mohammad Ali Durrani has said that unlike previous governments, the present government believed in practical steps rather than making hollow announcements.

He said that in the past, a lot of announcements had been made by the rulers but they were rarely implemented and subsequently the people’s confidence was shattered.

The minister was speaking to Pakistan Television on Friday night.

He said one of the greatest challenges faced by the government was to restore the people’s confidence and it had achieved considerable success in this regard.

Mr Durrani said that President Pervez Musharraf, soon after assuming power, had promised to develop Balochistan and help improve the lot of Baloch people, who had been neglected in the past.

He said that in order to keep the pledge to the Baloch people, a number of mega projects like the Gwadar post, road networks and dams had been taken up in the province. These projects would usher in an era of prosperity for the people of Balochistan.

He said that currently there were around 138 major pro-jects under execution which would cast an amount of Rs164 billion.

He claimed that the projects had generated over 70,000 job opportunities while over the past years, 25,000 new posts had been announced in various public sector departments. He said that so far, 17,000 posts had already been filled.

He said that the Rakni-Loralai road would be soon because ample funds were available besides there was a strong will to complete the project.

Mr Durrani said that Baloch students would be facilitated by the government to study in other universities adding the days are not far when the people of Balochistan will have better life than the people of other provinces.

Responding to another question the Minister said that the government has a firm stand that strong provinces are a guarantee for a strong federation.

—APP