Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif inaugurates work on M-5 project

Lahore: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif arrived here Friday to launch work on the Sukkur-Multan portion of M5 motorway.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah received the Prime Minister on his arrival at the Sukkur Airport.

According to a PM House statement, the project is part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor that is being executed on the directive of the Prime Minister to link Karachi with Peshawar through a network of motorways.

The stretch of Sukkur-Multan Motorway will be 393 kilometer that will be a project of national importance.

Starting from Multan, the six-lane motorway will pass through Jalalpur

Peerwala, Ahmed Pur East, Ubaro, Pano Aqil and terminate at Sukkur.

The project will comprise 54 bridges including one major bridge on River Sutlej. It also consists of 12 service areas, 10 rest areas, 11 interchanges, 10 flyovers and 426 underpasses.

The motorway will provide high speed transportation between Sindh and Punjab provinces.

The project will be completed with the financial assistance of China and the contract had been awarded to M/s. China State Construction Engineering Corporation.

Addressing a large gathering here after performing ground breaking of the Rs 294 billion Sukkur-Multan Motorway, the Prime Minister said the nation wants an end to poverty, unemployment, lack of health, education and other social sector problems. “We will continue to serve the masses selflessly with the same vigour, zeal and commitment,” he said and added “Pakistan would soon be part of the global economic powers.”

Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Friday related terrorists with those pursuing the politics of agitation and said the nation has rejected the agenda of all those who were against Pakistan’s development and progress.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said the politics of sit-ins had severely hindered the country’s progress and prosperity. He regretted that the country lost a precious year due to the sit-ins, that achieved nothing.He said the agenda of terrorists was to create disruption, chaos, law and order situation and push Pakistan back to the dark ages. “A similar objective was being pursued by those who stage sit-ins, cause agitation and hinder country’s march ahead.” “They wish to sabotage and divert attention of the government from development. The people of Pakistan have given us their mandate and with Allah’s help, we will complete our tenure,” he said.

The Prime Minister said he wished that Leader of Opposition Syed Khurshid Shah was here at this grand event. “We are building a bridge in your area, while you are demanding my resignation,” he said.

He said the Opposition Leader must understand the  agenda and should not side with those who were against  country’s progress and development.

The Prime Minister asked the crowd whether the situation in the country has improved over the past three years or not, to which the gathering of the PML-N workers responded with enthusiasm.

He also questioned whether they saw improvement in situation in Karachi, law and order across the country, national economy, terrorism and other areas, to which the large crowd acknowledged again with a resounding applause.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said he was proud that the Pakistan Muslim League-N always worked with complete transparency. He said former President Pervez Musharraf tried his best to dig out corruption of even a single penny against them, but failed to find.

Nawaz Sharif said Transparency International also endorsed this. Similarly other international agencies also spoke of improving economic indicators, lower corruption, increased productivity, he added.

The Prime Minister said today the loadshedding of electricity was considerably down and there was more availability of natural gas. He said the electricity tariffs was now 30 per cent down, new industries were being set up and lots of economic activity being generated.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said he was not afraid of anyone and did his best to strengthen country’s defence and said had they feared anyone, they would not have conducted  the nuclear tests.

The Prime Minister who earlier performed the groundbreaking  of the Motorway said it would form part of the multi-billion China  Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

He specifically mentioned the role of China in Pakistan’s  prosperity and said with the US 46 billion dollar projects, the  country would soon be amongst the list of developed countries.

The Prime Minister said his dream of connecting the entire  country with a robust linkage of roads, motorways and expressways  was about to come true. He said the CPEC project would link China’s  Kashgar with Gwadar, but the sections of motorways would also connect it to Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asian Republics.

He said the region, comprising three billion population in China, SAARC, Central Asian, was almost equal to the population  in rest of the world and said the people here have a bright future.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said he had envisioned the  project of regional connectivity in 1990, however regretted  that all his plans were shattered due to the situation in 1999. He said had he continued with his ambitious plans,  things today would have been different altogether.

He recalled the recent groundbreaking of the Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway and said work on the 296-km long Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway would start soon.

He said 393-km long Sukkur-Multan would be a six-lane motorway, comprising ten rest areas with a far better quality than the existing roads. He said the new motorway would provide connectivity and speedy travel across the country.

The Prime Minster said his opponents do not wish him to undertake these gigantic development projects and said despite their attempts to hamper progress, he would continue to serve the nation.

The Prime Minister also announced construction of the 125-year old Sukkur barrage and said the new bridge would be built at a cost of Rs 6.5 billion and said work on the project would start this year. He said the old bridge would be preserved as a national heritage.

The Prime Minister at the end of his speech raised the slogan of Pakistan Zindabad, to which the crowd responded enthusiastically.

Acting Ambassador of China Zhao Lijian said Peshawar-Karachi Motorway (PKM) and Korakorum Highway (KKH) – the two big projects under CPEC – were the most significant cooperation between the governments of Pakistan and China.

He mentioned that the Multan-Sukkur section was the most difficult section of PKM, owing to traffic density and population.

He said the Chinese government decided to offer soft loan  for building this section, which he said would create jobs, increase tax revenues, promote area links and ensure the  well-being of people.

Zhao Lijian said the project being the largest under CPEC  will be undertaken by the China Construction Company, which is  the largest trans-national company in the world completing 1500 projects globally.

The company is also building terminal of Islamabad’s new airport, he said.

Federal Secretary Ministry of Communications Khalid Masood Chaudhry said the Karachi-Lahore motorway was being constructed  by National Highway Authority (NHA) on priority basis as per  directive of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

He highlighted the importance of the M5 which he said  would be the fastest road link between Sindh and Punjab.

He mentioned that the six-lane motorway passing through Multan-Jalalpur Peerwala Ahmedpur East, Ubaro, Pano Aqil will terminate at Sukkur with a total 54 bridges to be constructed including one major bridge at river Sutlej.

Twelve service areas, 10 rest areas, 11 interchanges, 10 flyovers and 426 underpasses will also be included in this  project, he said.

He said that the Karachi-Lahore section of the PKM had  been divided into four sections including 136-km Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway, 296-km Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway, 387-km Sukkur-Multan Motorway and 333-km Multan-Lahore Motorway.

Senator Nehal Hashmi and President PML-N Sindh Ismael Rahu also spoke on the occasion.