Govt’s first priority is to protect its people: Zardari

President Asif Ali Zardari said the first priority of the government is to provide protection to the lives and properties of the people at any cost.
Addressing the inauguration and ground breaking ceremony of a number of mega development projects worth billions of rupees in Hyderabad on Saturday, he said in the ongoing global debate on the issue of security and terrorism‚ Pakistan will also present its point of view at all forums. The president said Pakistan will provide its coal reservoirs to China for producing energy to overcome the existing shortage of electricity in the country.
He said the development projects taken by the government including the Thar coal project will bring prosperity in the country and provide enormous job opportunities to the youth.
Behan Benazir Basti: Zardari inaugurated the ‘Behan Benazir Basti’ housing scheme for the homeless people in Hyderabad. Under the housing scheme‚ 65,000 housing units will be constructed for poor people in 23 districts of Sindh. The project will be completed at a cost of Rs 1.6 billion. Addressing a function at Hyderabad Club to hand over ownership certificates and keys of the newly constructed houses under the scheme, Zardari said provision of houses to destitute families of Sindh is the fulfillment of yet another promise. He said it is a great pleasure for him to distribute the ownership certificates of low-cost houses to the poorest of the poor families under Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Housing Programme.
Referring to the vision of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto, the president said the democratic government remained committed to providing “Roti, Kapra and Makan” to the people. He said the completion and distribution of these housing units is a landmark achievement of the government of Sindh.
The president said it is a giant step towards fulfilling the pledges made by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto.
Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway: The president also laid the foundation stone of Karachi-Hyderabad M9 Motorway in Hyderabad and the 48 km long Hyderabad-Badin Road‚ which has been completed at a cost of Rs 184 million.
Darawat Dam Project: Addressing a function at the inauguration of the Darawat Dam Project, the president said a number of initiatives have been undertaken by the present government to achieve goals set out in the energy policy.
Zardari said the present democratically elected government has devised a comprehensive energy policy aimed at meeting the current and future demands of power.
The present government is focusing on the exploration of new resources of water and hydropower, he added. He said the energy mix is also being improved to cater to the needs of the time. He said the government is also developing other alternate resources of energy like coal, wind and solar. As part of the energy policy the government is building a number of small and medium dams throughout the country, he said.
The president said over two dozen hydropower projects were in progress, adding that completion of these projects would add 21,000 MW of low-cost hydro power to the national grid. He said these projects will also store 13 million acre feet of water for agriculture. Darawat Dam Project, he said, is part of these small and medium dams.
The dam has been constructed on Nai Baran near Jhangri village in Jamshoro district and will provide water to irrigate additional 25,000 acres of land.
He said although the government had inherited a serious energy crisis, it took a number of steps to resolve it.
He said the country was facing the current energy crisis due to thoughtless reversal of energy policies in mid nineties.