Sacrifice your land for country: minister

Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan seeks people’s help for mega-projects

RAWALPINDI:

Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan on Saturday appealed to the people of Rawalpindi to sacrifice their lands for the country, assuring that they would get due compensation.

The government requires land to build Chahan Dam, Rawalpindi Ring Road and Leh Expressway and people should help in the development of these projects by surrendering their estates to the government against the promised compensation, the minister said.

Many people have approached the court, while some others have set up protest camps to demand compensation at market rates for their ancestral lands which the government wants to acquire at cheap rates.

The minister while visiting the sites of Chahan Dam and Leh Expressway said that development needs sacrifice.

The incumbent government is committed to building water reservoirs to solve the water issues of the country, he said.

Sarwar was briefed by the authorities about the construction work on the Chahan Dam, Rawalpindi Ring Road and the Leh Expressway.

Talking to the media at the Chahan Dam site, the minister said the dam would be completed at a cost of Rs6 billion to provide clean drinking water to the rural areas of Dhamyal, Garja, Dhaman Syedan, Lakhan, Chak Jalaluddin and Kalial.

He said that Rawalpindi Ring Road was close to materialisation. He appealed to the people of Rawalpindi to sacrifice their lands for the country, assuring that they would get its compensation.

He asserted that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government would complete the Ring Road project during its tenure. The project was on papers only since 1991.

Briefing further about the project, Sarwar said that the Ring Road was being developed under Public Private Partnership mode. As per the PPP proposal, income generated from the Ring Road would go to the group of investors and developers for a period of 25 years while the responsibility of maintenance would also reside with the developer.

Virtual meeting on Leh Expressway

After a formal nod by Prime Minister Imran Khan, the government has decided to hold a virtual meeting next week to discuss the future development of the Leh Expressway Flood Channel project.

Punjab Chief Minister’s Financial Adviser Dr Salman Shah will chair the meeting after returning from abroad.

The government will carry out commercial zoning on either side of Leh Expressway under the regeneration programme.

Under the plan, two to three residential plots would be amalgamated to form a larger commercial plot.

The payment for this purpose would be done by a qualified firm working on the project under the public-private partnership (PPP) model.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 14^th, 2021.