ISLAMABAD - As part of a political move the beleaguered government, which is facing intense heat of Panama leaks, is inaugurating pending development projects in different parts of the country, which were approved in the last budget in June 2015.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in response to charged opposition parties, has himself jumped into political arena and is announcing pending mega projects in public gatherings.
The Premier is now announcing most of these uplift projects of the country, which remained untouched for nearly a year. The parliament in June 2015 had approved development projects under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).
Interestingly, PM Sharif has also adopting a bit aggressive tone in public meetings against political opponents, presenting an election campaign like situation to the masses.
This aggressiveness coupled with public appeasement is keep the ship of government afloat amid increasing voices for resignation of the prime minister and fair probe into the Panama affair. Nawaz Sharif on April 28 announced in public rally that no increase would be made in petroleum prices for next month. Usually, the government announces the decision on the prices on the last day of every month. But, in order to push its popularity graph up, the government team this time didn't wait for the Ogra recommendations and announced their decision on the POL products prices.
However, PTI Chairman Imran Khan has criticised Nawaz Sharif for organising public meetings and rallies in order to save himself and his family in Panama leaks.
Nawaz Sharif is performing groundbreaking of development projects, which were approved by the parliament almost a year back. The prime minister is scheduled to perform the groundbreaking of Multan-Sukkur, DI Khan-Hakla, Lahore-Multan and Sialkot-Lahore Motorways during the next three weeks ending May 21. "These projects were approved by the parliament at the time of budget," said an official of the finance ministry. He said that most of these projects come under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and majority of them are likely to complete after the tenure of the PML-N government ending in 2018.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday inaugurated Havelian-Thakot Motorway section in Mansehra. The 120-kilometre section of the motorway, which is part of CPEC, is expected to be completed in 42 months with a cost of Rs133.98 billion. China Exim bank will fund 90 percent of the project, while the rest will be funded by Pakistan. The government had already earmarked Rs11.850 billion in the PSDP 2015-16 for the project.
The prime minister has also inaugurated gas project in District Mansehra. But the KP Information Minister Mushtaq Ghani, who also hails from Hazara Division, said the same project was inaugurated for the fourth time. "First it was inaugurated by Nawaz Sharif in 1990, then by PML-N government in 1997, and later by People Party government in 2010," said Ghani.
PM Nawaz Sharif is also planning to inaugurate DI Khan-Hakla motorway. This route is also part of CPEC and was announced in the joint declaration issued after an All Parties Conference. The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) has already approved the construction of Motorway from Burhan/Hakla on M-1 to DI Khan at the cost of Rs124, 208 million. The government has allocated Rs10 billion for the project in the PSDP 2015-16.
Another project of Lahore-Multan Motorway is part of the Karachi-Lahore Motorway. The 230km Lahore-Multan section of the Karachi-Lahore Motorway was approved by ECNEC in November 2015, and the total cost of the project was Rs150.6 billion.
Multan -Sukkur Section (392km) has 90 percent foreign funding while 10 percent will be provided by the government of Pakistan. For Multan-Sukkur Motorway, Rs5,250 million was allocated in the fiscal 2015 with Rs45,000 million foreign aid component.
Another project to be inaugurated is Sialkot-Lahore Motorway. The 90km motorway project was approved by the prime minister in September 2015. According the original announcement the total cost of the project was Rs45 billion and it were to start in October 2015. The government has already allocated Rs2,000 million in the fiscal 2015-16 for the project.
In November last year the prime minister inaugurated the Khanewal-Multan section of the Multan-Faisalabad motorway. M-4 Motorway (57km) has a total cost estimate of Rs14,494.9 million with a foreign aid exponent of Rs10,722.2 million. The expenditure till June 2015 was Rs10,083.1 million while Rs1,100 million were allocated in the fiscal 2015-16.