‘People making claims for southern Punjab rendered it a desert’

CM says South Punjab ready to leave rest of the province behind

RAHIM YAR KHAN: People who are making claims for southern Punjab had rendered it a desert during their regime, said Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

He expressed these views while inaugurating the academic building of Khawaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology on Saturday.

“Imran Khan says that I am a more dangerous person than Nawaz Sharif. If this is true then he should make peace with Nawaz, while I continue to build universities, hospitals and roads, providing the people with employment opportunities,” he said.

Under Nawaz’s leadership we have started energy projects worth thousands of megawatts, while also installing solar power projects turning the area into a developed and prosperous one, he expressed.

In the past 10 years, approximately 36% of resources were utilised on South Punjab; it is now ready to leave the rest of the province behind, he added.

We have completed a record number of development projects in South Punjab. We had dreamt of the university in 2015 and have completed the first phase at a cost of Rs5 billion. More than 2,500 students will study to become engineers at this institution, he maintained.

One way road inaugurated

Later in the day, the CM travelled to Bahawalpur where he inaugurated the 77 kilometre long Bahawalpur-Hasilpur one way road.

This road will bring an economic revolution in the area. If I am trusted by the people in the upcoming elections, this road will be extended from Hasilpur to Bahawalnagar, benefitting the whole area, he stressed.

We brought solar power projects to the area and now 400MW projects are functioning in the area, he said.

The CM also expressed that it was his dream to build a water reservoir from the banks of the Indus all the way to Cholistan, so that flood water brought during the monsoon can be used to make Cholistani land fertile. If we are trusted in the elections, we will surely make this project happen, he said.

He also said that after the elections a medical and technical university will be established here. The Veterinary University is in its final stages of completion and will soon be inaugurated, while a blood testing lab and a kidney centre that has been established will also be inaugurated soon.

Under Nawaz, we have built power projects which have eliminated electricity load shedding, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 6^th, 2018.