Imran stresses uniform development across country

Prime Minister Imran Khan inaugurated the 293-kilometre long Hakla-Dera Ismail Khan Motorway on Wednesday, expressing the confidence that this important part of the Western route of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would help raise the living standards of the people in these areas.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony, the prime minister pointed out that previously the development of the country was confined only to GT Road, Lahore and onwards to Karachi, which were also called Eastern route of the CPEC.

“But a country achieves progress if there is uniform development across its length and breadth. It is made possible by long-term planning like China, which has planned 30 years ahead,” he added. “The future planning will envisage a roadmap towards progress, embracing all parts of Pakistan,” he said.

The Hakla-DI Khan Motorway has 11 interchanges, 36 bridges, 33 flyovers and 119 underpasses. It would help transform DI Khan into one of the main business hubs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, linking South Punjab and Balochistan. It would also enable supply of agricultural produce to different parts of the country.

Imran said that a selective development was the biggest problem of the developing world as it benefited only a particular group of population. “If a few areas are developed, the people living there will become rich, leaving behind the people in the backward areas in poverty,” he said.

The prime minister said that during the last 25 years, he had been consistently maintaining that corruption had been the biggest issue of Pakistan. “In the past, roads were constructed at exorbitant costs as the money was going into someone else’s pockets,” he said.

“Roads were constructed for making money. How it comes that roads during 2013 were constructed costly and now being completed at the lower costs,” he wondered. “About Rs1,000 billion had gone into the pockets of the corrupt, it happened with a poor nation,” he regretted.

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However, he said that revenues of the National Highway Authority (NHA) had doubled after the current government took steps against corruption, including e-tendering, besides recovery of the encroached land belonging to the NHA worth Rs5 billion.

Imran stressed that development should “always be inclusive” without focusing on a particular segment of the society. “Planning should be made in a way that no area or people are left behind,” he said, adding that the State of Madina was the most successful model of the world.

The prime minister further said that people in the far-off areas were deprived of health facilities. Citing the government’s health card scheme, he said the people in the backward areas would have the facility of availing the best treatment facilities due to the health cards.

Speaking about the Hakla-DI Khan Motorway, he said the project would connect the less developed areas to the developed cities. He expressed the confidence that the motorway would go a long way in raising the standards of living of these areas. “Such prospects augur well for a bright future of Pakistan.”

Commending the efforts of the communications minister, Imran mentioned that this ministry was among the top three performing ministries. The ceremony was attended by Communications Minister Murad Saeed, ministers, parliamentarians and the NHA officials.

(WITH INPUT FROM APP)