LAHORE: Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has said Pakistan will emerge as a strong economic power of the region in the next few years.
He said opposition should come and see the development projects and should appreciate the government over its good deeds.He said a 2600 kilometre long motorway would be constructed from Khunjarab to Gwadar.
Adding that Pakistan will be linked with China and Central Asia and a new Pakistan is being established.
The prime minister said that the opponents should do politics but should not snatch employment opportunities from the youth.
He repeated that the government came into power after taking the mandate of the masses and fully enjoys the right to serve the people.
He questioned the reasons due to which sit-ins are being staged, adding that the purpose of sit-ins is to stop progress in Pakistan and bring the country in the dark ages.
Nawaz said many power projects are being completed rapidly and that the past rulers took away the electricity of the country with them.
He made these remarks after reviewing the progress on Lahore-Abdul Hakeem M-3 motorway project in Nankana Sahib on Wednesday.
Nawaz Sharif said that mega infrastructure projects including motorways, expressways and highways are being executed in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Gilgit Baltistan which will make Pakistan the Asian Tiger.
The Prime Minister said the mega connectivity projects will also connect Pakistan with China and the central Asian countries. Speed and quality is being prioritised in these projects.
He pointed out that central Asian states are land locked countries and the connectivity projects will help these countries to access Gwadar port.
This will benefit the economies of Pakistan and the Central Asian states as well.
The Prime Minister invited the opposition parties to visit the development projects initiated by the present government which are not less than a revolution. A genuine change is taking place in the country. He said besides road infrastructure project, the government has launched several power projects which will add cheap electricity to the national grid.
Nawaz Sharif said the opposition should do politics but not create hurdles in the execution of these projects.The Premier said that we will continue our journey towards development in order to ensure a brighter future for the youth of the country.
“The projects started by the ruling party are unprecedented in the history of Pakistan as no government took such grand initiatives,” he said.
“We are working on connecting Pakistan with Central Asian countries, but before that, we have to have a satisfactory infrastructure in our country as well,” the prime minister added.
PM Nawaz Sharif also lauded Pakistan Air Force’s (PAF) role in safeguarding air frontiers
PM Nawaz said he would welcome opposition parties if they wanted to visit the under-construction motorway instead of protesting against his party. “At least you should appreciate these efforts,” he said.
“A government that has been elected to parliament has a duty to serve the masses,” the premier said while requesting the opposition to stop hampering ongoing projects.
He said the PML-N has a legacy of timely completion of infrastructure projects which take decades for other governments to complete. PM Nawaz Sharif appreciates China’s commitment for realisation of CPEC
M-3 will connect with M-4 and provide an alternate and direct route from Lahore to Multan.
The structures at M-3 include eight interchanges, as many bridges over major roads, 35 bridges over canals, 60 underpasses, 201 cattle creeps and 705 culverts.
Around 44 per cent work of the project has been completed and under the revised schedule, the project will be operational by March 2018 instead of the initial completion date of August 2018.
