The days of leg pulling in politics are over now:Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif

Lahore: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Thursday said the days of leg pulling in politics were over and those trying to prevent government from taking the country forward must stop from their negative tactics “We want to take Pakistan forward to a stage, where it stands proudly amongst the community of nations and urge all those trying to create obstacles to join hands in country’s progress,” Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said at the ground breaking of a hydropower project here.

Without naming PTI,  Sharif said those who lost the by-election of NA-122 Lahore should accept the result with an open heart. He said baseless allegations were levelled about rigging in the general election. And now after a free, fair and transparent elections, the PML-N candidate has won again. He said in Okara even the security deposit of the PTI candidate was forfeited.

He also regretted the undue criticism against the Rs 350 billion Kissan Package that was aimed at helping the farming community and the country’s agriculture sector.

The Prime Minister said his government was committed to take the country forward and a series of mega development projects were being undertaken across the country. He said opponents of the government were critical of performance of the government as they cannot bear to see the fast pace of national development.

Sharif said his government went out of the way to accommodate those who had resigned from their seats in the National Assembly and said he even asked Maulana Fazal ur Rehman to take back his Resolution in the NA, as his government believes in the way forward.

He said the PML-N believes in taking decisions of national interest with consensus and added the people of Pakistan can clearly see and understand that who was serving the masses positively and who was trying to undermine the pace of development and progress.

Nawaz Sharif was here to perform the ground breaking of US 310 million dollar Gulpur Hydropower project that would add 102 MW of cheap electricity to the national grid.

The Prime Minister appreciated that 33 per cent work on the project has already been completed and rest would be completed in 48 months. He complimented the project managers for completing it in a short period of 3 years time.

Prime Minister said the project would be completed with Korean investment of around US 310 million dollars and said it would go a long way in helping the country counter its acute power shortage. He said power outages have been cut down from 12 hours to 6 hours, owing to a number of effective measures taken by his government, since coming into power. He reiterated his resolve that before the end of his government’s tenure almost 3600 MW of electricity would be added to the national grid and the curse of load shedding would be over for good, by 2018.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif invited the Korea South East, a leading company in the power sector that was working on many projects internationally, and invited them to make more investments in Pakistan. He said his government desires to build several new mega projects, particularly along the Indus river.

He said the company can become a partner in the Bhasha dam project that would generate 4500 MW. He said transparency and merit were hallmarks of his government and all those foreign and local companies who meet all requirements and fulfill the laid down criterion can undertake the work.

The prime minister said work on the Neelum Jhelum was also nearing completion. He said the project would be privatized and the Korean company may also join the transparent bidding process.

Nawaz Sharif also mentioned the Thar Coal project and said 600 MW of electricity would be produced. The Prime Minister said in three power projects in Punjab billions of rupees have been saved due to transparency.He said the Gulpur project was a manifestation of confidence of the foreign investors in Pakistan and said the government would fully facilitate them in all projects they undertake.

PM Nawaz Sharif said the government’s objective was to produce electricity at cheap rates and was working on different alternatives including Liquified Natural Gas, hydro power and fuel. He said at present electricity was being produced at an exorbitant rate, which he pointed was no service to the people. He said that was why his government was committed to the production of cheap and clean electricity that was affordable for the common man and low cost for the industries.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also mentioned the country’s economic rating that has improved significantly since his government took over. He said interest rates were down, inflation dropped to its historic low and it was a good time for foreign investors to invest in the country. Sharif congratulated the project managers and the staff for their hardwork and dedication to the cause.

He said the people of Azad Kashmir “must be given their due” and said the government of Pakistan would do its utmost to help the people of Azad Kashmir and turn it into the most developed areas of the country.