ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif says Pakistan is changing and today it is far better than in 2013 as a result of prudent policies adopted by the PML(N) Government.
He was addressing the PML(N) General Council in Islamabad today after his unopposed re-election as Party President. A large number of PML-N enthiasts present at the Convention centre raised Nawaz Sharif’s slogans during his speech and applauded him over his achievements.
The Prime Minister thanked the party leaders and members for reposing confidence in his leadership. He said he will try his best to come up to the expectations and aspirations of the party and the people.
The Prime Minister said the Government would continue to serve the nation despite hurdles being created by some political jugglers. He said people would reject these jugglers and support those who are busy in nation building.
He lashed out at Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan and said that his party‘s mandate is dancing on containers. He said that we will carry on constructing roads while PTI will continue roaming on them.
“Today the people of KP are searching for their elected leader. They are searching for those who promised them a ‘Naya Pakistan’ but they are only found on containers,” he said in a veiled reference to PTI chief Imran Khan.
“Had you focused on your province, people would be praising you, but the situation now is such that you need months of effort to organise a gathering and to get people to attend it.”
“Citizens will patronise those who they believe will work for the development of Pakistan.” he said.
Mian Nawaz Sharif said the real change is being brought about by PML(N) and this is also acknowledged by the international community. He said Pakistan is today counted among fast emerging economies of the globe. Pakistan Stock Exchange is one of the five best performing markets of the world, foreign exchange reserves have crossed twenty-four billion dollars and inflation has also declined as compare to 2013. He said prices of petroleum prices have also come down.
Nawaz Sharif reiterated that a number of energy projects are under implementation and electricity load-shedding will be eliminated by 2018. He said all resources of energy including hydel, wind, solar and nuclear are being exploited and ten thousand megawatt will be added in the national grid by 2018. He said thirty thousand megawatt of additional electricity will be added in the next few years. He said his target is not only to end to loadshedding but ensure its supply to consumers at lower rates. He said when the present government took over, the per unit cost of electricity was Rs 16 while today it is Rs 10 and will be further brought down to Rs 8 per unit in 2018.
He said law and order situation has improved in the country due to counter-terrorism measures and operation Zarb-e-Azb.
The Prime Minister said the Government has initiated a number of motorways and highways in the length and breadth of the country. Karachi-Lahore motorway is under construction and this will be extended from Lahore to Multan and Multan to Sukkur during the next two years. Similarly work on Karachi to Hyderabad motorway is in progress and work would begin during the next months on its extension from Hyderabad to Sukkur. He said the Federal Government is spending over eighteen billion rupees on Greenline project in Karachi.
The Prime Minister said 5.5 billion dollars are being spent for improving railway system in the country which would help increase speed of the train from the existing eighty kilomters an hour to 160 kilometers an hour.
He said for the first time a network of highways and roads are being created in Balochistan. He said KPK is being governed by another party but motorways and highways are being constructed by the federal government of PML(N).
He said under a country-wide development programme, projects for clean drinking water, sewerage, health and education would be completed to improve quality of life of the people.
Nawaz Sharif said forty-five modern hospitals will be built across the country to provide best medical care to the people.
He said one hundred and thousand laptops have been distributed at a cost of 4.5 billion rupees and four hundred thousand more would be distributed during the next two years.
The Prime Minister appealed to the masses and party workers to play their roles to help the Government implement its developmental agenda.
Earlier, Raja Zafarul Haq was been elected as Chairman and Sartaj Aziz, Sir Anjaam Khan, Sikandar Hayat, Changez Mari, Imdad Hussain Chandio, Yaqoub Nasir as the senior vice presidents of the party. Pervaiz Rashid has been elected unopposed as the Finance Secretary, Mushahidullah Information Secretary and Ahsan Iqbal Deputy Secretary General of the party. —INP