Public money to be spent on public welfare: CM

February 28, 2017

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TO GO WITH Pakistan-unrest-vote-politics-development-education,FOCUS by Khurram Shahzad In this photograph taken on June 5, 2013, shows Pakistani employees walking beside metro buses parked at a terminal in the provincial capital Lahore. Pakistanis are hoping their new prime minister will roll out high-profile projects that became his party's trademark in its political heartland of Punjab, but the nation's dire finances threaten the optimism. The Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) won huge popularity and a reputation for getting things done with a series of big-ticket schemes over the past five years in Punjab, the country's richest, most populous province. A metro bus system in the provincial capital Lahore -- the first such scheme in the country's 65-year history -- free laptops and solar energy panels for students and a network of high-quality schools in poor rural areas made Punjab the envy of Pakistan. AFP PHOTO / ARIF ALI

Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired a meeting to review the progress of ongoing public welfare projects in the province.

Addressing the meeting, the chief minister said that education, health, clean drinking water and the provision of other basic facilities to people were the provincial government’s top priorities and various projects had been completed for this purpose.

Shehbaz Sharif said that resources have been shifted to Punjab’s under-privileged areas of Punjab and projects worth billions of rupees have been initiated in Southern Punjab. The Multan Metro Bus has provided the people of Southern Punjab with the latest, economic, and fast transport facilities and the Rural Roads Program has built thousands of kilometres of roads there for easy access and transportation, he said.

Provincial Ministers Mian Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman, Ayesha Ghaus Pasha, the planning and development chairman, finance secretary, Lahore commissioner and other concerned officials were also present on the occasion.