Punjab CM in Karachi: NFC award postponed for a year, says Shahbaz

Invites Sindh CM governor to attend Metro Bus launch in Islamabad today

KARACHI: The upcoming National Finance Commission (NFC) award has been delayed by a year, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Wednesday.

“There are some issues, which is why the federal government, after consulting all provinces, has decided to postpone the NFC award,” he said at a news conference in Karachi following meetings with Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and Governor Ishratul Ebad. In response to a question, he said he hoped that the award would be finalised in the current year.

The Punjab chief minister, who had flown in to Karachi after a long time, said the purpose of his one-day visit to the metropolis was to invite his counterpart from Sindh and the province’s governor for the launch of the Metro Bus for Islamabad and Rawalpindi, which is set to take place today (Thursday).

“This project [Metro Bus] is not just for Punjab. It is for the people of all provinces and Kashmir as well,” he told reporters at Punjab House.

Shahbaz announced that $10 billion out of the $43 billion economic package given to Pakistan by China would be spent on energy projects in Sindh, such as the Thar coal project. He said the country was facing two key challenges currently which were energy shortage and terrorism.

Talking about terrorism, he said the menace could not be defeated by guns alone but would require efforts with the pen as well. “We should focus on education and health, and reducing unemployment. These things will make Pakistan a prosperous country and help us defeat terrorists,” he said.

He stressed the need to have coordination between the provinces to overcome terrorism and other problems confronted by Pakistan.  “Today, I had detailed discussion with chief minister Sindh to share our success stories. We have done good job in solid water management system and want to help Sindh government to implement the same. Similarly, Sindh government must share with us their experiences in education field,” he said.

Shahbaz added that he had congratulated his counterpart in Sindh over the arrest of the perpetrators of the attack on the Ismaili Community.

Talking about local government polls, the Punjab chief minister said the exercise will be conducted in his province in a much more transparent manner than in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa “where the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government has broken all records for rigging.”

“I want to inform people that Punjab will set a precedent in holding transparent, free and fair local government elections,” he said.  To a question about Imran Khan’s statement regarding a re-poll in K-P, he said, “This is not Imran Khan’s own idea. It looks someone else has asked him to do so.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2015.