LAHORE: Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, on Saturday, said that Punjab government has given the largest development programme in the history of the province for the current financial year 2017-18.
While talking to elected representatives, he said Rs 635 billion will be spent on development projects during the current fiscal year.
The volume of this development program is 15 per cent more than the development programme of the previous year and execution of this historic Annual Development Programme will usher in a new era of progress and prosperity in the province.
The chief minister said that development of social sector on a sustainable basis is our utmost priority. Record funds of Rs 345 billion in the current financial year have been earmarked for the promotion of education, he added.
He said that through the programmes of Punjab Education Foundation, more than 2.5 million students have been educated, besides new educational institutions, colleges and universities are being set up all over the province.
The CM said that provision of best health facilities is also our priority and a huge sum of Rs 263.22 billion has been allocated for this purpose. He further said that mega project of Clean Drinking Water has been initiated from 37 districts of South Punjab and execution of this project will provide millions of people with potable water.
Shehbaz Sharif said for the first time in the history of Pakistan, interest-free loans of 100 billion rupees are being given to small farmers while relief has been provided to them by cutting short the prices of fertilisers.
GLOBAL COOPERATION MOVEMENT ENSURES PARALLEL DISTRIBUTION OF ASSETS:
In another meeting, while speaking on the International Cooperative Day, Shehbaz Sharif said that the aim of the global movement of mutual cooperation is to get rid of exploitative forces and work together to guarantee parallel distribution of province’s assets.
He said that performance of agriculture in Punjab and cooperative institutions in the housing sector is exemplary. He said that distribution of loans of billions of rupees annually among farmers and supply of residential facilities to the public by the cooperative institutions is commendable but still this sector needs more work.
Congratulating all the people associated with this movement on the occasion of International Cooperative Day, the chief minister said the Punjab government expresses solidarity with international volunteer cooperation and reiterate its commitment to implement this movement in Punjab.
He said that Punjab government has allocated huge funds to activate cooperative institutions to promote cooperatives and highlighting its role in the province.
Shehbaz Sharif said that initiatives like the restructuring of Punjab Provincial Cooperative Bank Limited, biometric transfer of plots in cooperative housing societies and computerization of cooperative societies across the province have been taken.
Our government has completed various projects of public welfare with transparency and introduced new terminology of “Punjab Speed” around the world, he claimed. He said that cooperative institutions need to take after a similar strategy to make their role ideal for all.