NEELUM JHELUM, May 5 (APP): Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz
Sharif Friday said his government was corruption-free and has not
been tainted in even a single scandal of financial bungling as
transparency in all projects was its hallmark since 2013.
He was addressing a gathering here after witnessing the
breakthrough ceremony of Right Head-race tunnel of Neelum Jhelum
project marking completion of the 68-kilometer long tunnels system.
The event marked a major milestone towards completion of the
strategically important 969 MW-Neelum Jhelum Hydropower project.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif came down heavily on the
opposition for pursuing a policy of mud slinging, “negative
politics” and hampering country’s march towards progress and
development and said it was only during the tenure of PML-N
governments that the country moved ahead.
Sharif who was visiting the project for the fourth time, said
ridding the country of power outages was his earnest desire. He
regretted that some people today were protesting against power
outages, while it were they who were responsible for the present
state of affairs.
Without naming anyone and in an apparent reference to the
recent protest by the Pakistan Peoples Party in Lahore against
loadshedding, the Prime Minister said “People are sick of you, for
abusing the government daily, for using dirty language, and for
something for which you are responsible.”
Sharif recalled that the people were apprehensive that
Pakistan might default by year 2012, however said that owing to the
sincerity of his team and hard work, things have completely changed.
He said gone were the days when the country witnessed 18 hours
long loadshedding and the economy was about to collapse.
“The back of terrorists have been broken, the country’s
economy is booming, and the industry today is getting electricity
and natural gas without any break.”
“We have not indulged in politics of confrontation, backbiting
and mud slinging and due to this reason, we have taken the country
forward on path of progress and prosperity,” Sharif said.
“Hiding like an ostrich would do no good, making tall claims
does not achieve anything, and God willing, the ‘sher’ – lion will
be again in power in 2018,” he said.
The Prime Minister said the country was witnessing a
revolution and added that 68 km long tunnel through a difficult
terrain has been completed and termed it an unusual feat.
He said the project was a victim of delays and poor planning
in the past and said had his government not taken interest, this
would have lingered for years to come. He said no previous
government had any interest, or sense of responsibility towards
completing this task.
He said the project, one of the many, was part of his
government’s commitment to end the curse of loadshedding from the
country.
Prime Minister Sharif said after the power project in Bhikki,
Baloki, Sahiwal and Port Qasim, were near completion. He questioned
why no other government in the past thought of inter connecting the
country with a network of high quality six lane roads.
He also mentioned the growing foreign investments, improvement
in law and order situation, particularly in Karachi, improved
rankings by international rating agencies, the best performing stock
market, as some of his govenrment’s achievements.
The Prime Minister said every month new power projects would
come on line and mentioned the Thar Coal and Sahiwal projects that
were nearing completion.
He said by early next year 10,000 MW would be added to the
system, equivalent to the power added in past 70 years. “It is no
small feat,” he said and attributed it to God’s help and Chinese
cooperation.
The Prime Minister expressed satisfaction over the pace of
progress in the power projects and said more electricity would bring
in more employment opportunities and boost industrialisation and
productivity.
Earlier the Prime Minister witnessed the break-through of the
Right Headrace Tunnel by the second Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM). He
was accompanied by President AJK Sardar Masood Khan, Prime Minister
AJK Raja Farooq Haider, Minister for Water and Power Khawaja
Muhammad Asif, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid
Khaqan Abbasi. Minister of State for power Abid Sher Ali and
parliamentarians.
A documentary detailing various phases of the project was also
shown. About 92 percent construction work has been completed on the
project, involving extensive tunnel work in one of the hardest
terrains.
The first unit of Neelum Jhelum Hydro Power Project will start
electricity generation by the end of February 2018, the second unit
in mid March, whereas the third and the fourth unit will be
completed in April 2018.
Chairman WAPDA Lieutenant General Muzammil Hussain (Retd)
lauded the Prime Minister for his commitment and vision and said
under his dynamic leadership Pakistan was on the path of economic
prosperity and development.
He said the project was ahead of its time-line and would be
producing over 900 MW of electricity in seven months time. He said
similarly work on other projects was going on at a fast pace. He
said work on Dasu dam would start in June this year and 2200 MW
would be produced by the year 2022, while Diamir Bhasha would be up
by 2027.
APP/Zaheer
VNS, Islamabad
