Inauguration drama is a great joke with the nation: Ch Pervaiz Elahi

Lahore: Pakistan Muslim League -Q senior central leader and former Deputy Prime Minister Ch Pervaiz Elahi has said that keeping Faisalabad Industrial Estate, established over 4500 acres during our tenure, closed for 6 years by Shahbaz Sharif and now enacting its inauguration drama was a great joke with the nation.

He said this while talking to media and commenting on the function of giving part of the estate to a foreign company. The real facts were that the estate on M-3 had become functional in 2006 after completion of infrastructure facilities, our govt had provided grid station, sewerage, drainage, roads and other ideal facilities and process of setting up of industries had started but Shahbaz Sharif instead of continuing it stopped issuing Letter of Intent after which setting up industries stopped otherwise billions of rupees foreign and local investment would have been done there by now.

He expressed these views while giving appointment notification to PML Hafizabad District President Asif Chatha. PML Punjab General Secretary Ch Zaheeruddin Khan and Senior Vice-President Muhammad Basharat Raja were also present on the occasion, he added.

Ch Parvez Elahi said further that during the govt of Shahbaz Sharif, industries were not being set up but only MOUs were being established. He said that Shahbaz Sharif should draw a comparison between foreign and local investment in the Punjab during our tenure and his govt because we had provided record facilities for investment.

He said that investment do not come merely by establishing world record of signing of MOUs as done by the Punjab Govt, investors were not coming to Punjab due to defective policies was who would trust the rulers who could not provide electricity and gas even in the houses.

He pointedly mentioned that we had formulated comprehensive policy for industrial progress and development under a vision and thinking in the Punjab so that industrial estates could be established at the division and district level, in consultation with the international experts state of the art Sunder and other industrial estates and export processing zones were established, our govt had left great industrial infrastructure left behind which was to be upgraded with the passage of time but it was destroyed in six years, we had promoted investment under govt private partnership under a policy sand vision which had attracted foreign investment of crores of dollars also but this process had halted now because of lack of conducive atmosphere and vision and now tall claims were being made only by signing MOUs.

He said that Punjab had achieved record growth rate due to industrial and agricultural production and this had also increased growth rate at the national level as well whereas they have done nothing but increased prices of essential and other articles, load shedding and crime created uncertain situation.