Punjab Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar on Saturday said that every promise made with the residents of Rawalpindi will be fulfilled and hoped the Ring Road project will solve the traffic problems besides boosting economic activities.

The chief minister was chairing the 4th meeting of public-private partnership policy and monitoring board in which matters about projects started under public-private partnership mode were reviewed. The meeting approved starting Rawalpindi Ring Road Project under public-private partnership mode with a cost of Rs50 billion. The meeting also gave in-principle approval to appoint a transaction adviser for ten other projects and endorsed the decisions made in the 3rd meeting. Secretary Board and member PPP cell Dr Farrukh Naveed briefed about PPP mode projects.

Addressing the meeting, Usman Buzdar directed that there should be no delay in the timeline and necessary matters should be expedited adding that the government will provide full support in this regard. He also directed to minimize the processing time adding that PPP mode projects should be on-ground without any delay. A suitable mechanism should be devised to early start the PPP mode projects while giving due attention to the legal aspects.

The Chief Minister disclosed that the Punjab government will start construction work of Sheikhupura-Gujranwala road in the next few days. Public-private partnership mode should be encouraged for the construction of hospitals in future and a comprehensive business model to be devised for the said purpose, he said and further stated that PTI government believes in best service delivery in the health sector.

Provincial ministers Hashim Jawan Bakht, Mian Mehmood ur Rasheed, Advisor to CM Dr Salman Shah, Mian Shafi Muhammad MPA, Chief Secretary, chairman P&D, SMBR and secretaries attended the meeting while commissioner Rawalpindi and DG RDA participated through video link.