Zubair calls out PTI for taking credit for PML-N projects

Says Green Line BRT was 80% complete under Nawaz

KARACHI:

Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) spokesperson and former Sindh governor Muhammad Zubair has claimed that the incumbent government is taking credit for projects started in PML-N's tenure.

Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, he said that the Green Line bus rapid transit (BRT) project was initiated during Nawaz Sharif's government, adding that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) government should be ashamed of claiming to have anything to do with it.

Zubair said this in response to the current Sindh governor's comments regarding the Green Line BRT. Imran Ismail had said that the infrastructure of the Green Line was complete and the buses had also arrived in the city. "The trial run will start in the next 10 days and citizens will witness the buses plying in the corridor," he had stated.

"We had completed 80 per cent work on the Green Line BRT while the incumbent government has merely bought 40 buses in three years," the former governor maintained.

"If we had not been forcibly removed, many more buses would have been brought to Karachi. The government should thank Nawaz for starting the project," he added.

The buses arrived at the Karachi port last week and were sent to the Surjani depot while it was said that the service will be inaugurated within two months by the prime minister.

READ Green Line BRT far from completion

Zubair stated that all major projects such as the Lyari Expressway, K-IV project, LNG terminal were all products of the PML-N regime. He added that the previous government completed power and transport projects in Karachi using federal funds.

He inquired of the incumbent government why the people of Karachi were deprived of the projects started by PML-N, adding that Imran Khan is coming to lay the foundation stone of the KCR project while Information Minister Sheikh Rashid has also inaugurated the project.

He alleged that just as in Punjab, the PTI government was stamping its name on PML-N projects in Karachi, highlighting the inclusion of the Karachi Circular Railway in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The former governor claimed that PML-N gave Karachi its due share apart from the National Finance Commission as well. He said that two power projects were completed at Port Qasim by the former government while two LNG terminals are operating in the country courtesy of PML-N as well.

Zubair further stated that last year Imran Khan had announced Rs1,100 billion funds for Karachi that are still missing. He added that currently, the Board of Investors has no chairman. Where are the government-announced projects worth Rs350 billion, he questioned.

He also said that Karachi was unsafe with dead bodies being recovered every day but the PML-N established peace in the city.

The project was started back in 2016 by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif with an aim to complete it within a year. However, due to various reasons, the project remained incomplete.

In a July 2020 briefing, the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Planning and Development was informed that the Green Line BRT service will start between March and June 2021.