After Lahore and Rawalpindi, another metro bus project have been inaugurated in Multan by Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif. Addressing a large gathering after inaugurating the Rs 28 billion, 18km long Metro bus project for Multan, the third city in Punjab to get a modern public transport network, Sharif said that govt. believes in delivering real projects for the people and did not believe in selling half-baked ideas, for petty political gains.
The Prime Minister congratulated Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif and his team for completing the project in minimum possible time of 18 months and termed it a highly laudable step. He hoped rest of the project would be completed at the earliest.
He said the city would soon be linked to the modern motorway network of the country that would help further boost the national economy.
Sharif said a new Expressway would also link it to Faisalabad and onwards to Islamabad in almost half the time. He said another six-lane Multan-Sukkur link would connect the city to Karachi soon. Prime Minister Sharif said a network of roads was now connecting all remote areas of Balochistan and would make travel safe, easy and cheap. He said all provinces would be connected through new road links.
He said the government has spent Rs 110 billion for acquisition of land for the Diamir Bhasha dam alone and said once completed it would generate 4500MWs and said soon the days of power outages would be over. He said the tariff for power would also be lowered to pass on the benefits to the people.
Nawaz Sharif said the Metro transport system was the best possible service for the people of Multan. He said there was a suggestion for doubling the fare in Multan from Rs 20, however he quashed it and said the government would subsidize the travel.
He said the government would incur a cost of billions to benefit the masses, but it was nothing when compared to the ease of transportation for the masses.
It would help in spread the pace of progress to every nook and corner of the country, save time and enhance economic activity.
He said Rs 4.5 billion were spent on the acquisition of land for the project out of Rs 28 billion cost of the project. He said the Prime Minister has to his credit a string of development projects spanning across the country that were aimed at generating electricity, storing water, building roads and infrastructure. Shahbaz Sharif said the completion of the project has put an end to all the speculations about the commitment of the government to the uplift of the South Punjab.
Shahbaz claimed that the quality of Multan Metro was much better than that of Lahore and Rawalpindi. He said the Federal government was now fully funding the Green Line project for Karachi. He regretted the criticism against the Orange Line project in Lahore and said Chinese investors were now on working on circular railway projects in Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar.
Minister for Food Security Sikandar Hayat Bosan said the project has put the city and surroundings on path of development and progress and termed it a gift by the Prime Minister and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for the people of South Punjab.
