A new step to industrialization, Prime Minister Imran Khan has carried out the groundbreaking of the 69-kilometer long Sialkot-Kharian motorway project in Islamabad.
While speaking in the ceremony, Imran Khan assured that the Sialkot-Kharian motorway is constructed through a public-private partnership, adding that this would safeguard the public development fund which is reserved so that it can be consumed on health and education.
Moreover, the government has been concentrating on easing the process of doing business and removing hurdles in the way of small and medium enterprises, he added.
The prime minister cherished the idea to necessitate the private sector in the motorway project, saying it will benefit the government divert resources to other areas.
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“The Swat motorway has opened the whole area to tourism,” he added. “Pakistan has immense tourism potential, but the potential was not developed in the past. Projects such as the second phase of Swat motorway and Dir Motorway will help encourage both domestic and foreign tourism at the picturesque places,” Imran Khan realized.
Prior to the Sialkot-Kharian motorway project, Minister for Communications Murad Saeed gave a comprehensive summary of the road infrastructure projects implemented over the last three years.
“We have built 1,753 kilometers of roads as compared to 645 kilometers of roads constructed by the PML-N government in three years,” the minister said.
Meanwhile, the premier voiced Fawad Chaudhry that he should highlight that “we are building three times more roads than the previous government”.
“And we are building them at low cost as well,” he added. “Because commission from these roads is not being used to buy flats in London.”
The minister further added that for the maintenance and repair of existing road infrastructure, the National Highway Authority was also focusing to its best.
Moreover, related to the project the PM said that connecting the northern areas of Gilgit-Baltistan would boost tourism to unprecedented levels in Pakistan.
“More tourists in the country would mean more inflow of dollars into Pakistan,” he said. “This, in turn, would improve the exchange rate,” he added.