ISLAMABAD, Dec 20 (APP):Minister for Interior and Planning, Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday said the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), once only a dream about four years ago, was speedily turning into a reality and work on all the routes of CPEC was fully on track.
Talking to media after reviewing the progress of Havelian-Thahkot Motorway in Haveilian, the minister said the 118 kilometer long motorway would be completed by early 2020 while the 38 km Haveilian-Mansehra section would be opened for public by next year.
He informed that the Burhan-Havelian section of the motorway would be inaugurated on Wednesday next (December 27).
Ahsan Iqbal was also accompanied by Deputy Speaker National Assembly Murtaza Javed Abbasi and Chairman National Highway Authority (NHA) Jawad Rafique Malik.
The minister said credit went to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who took his personal interest in construction of road networks across the country which had helped connecting the far flung and backward areas of the country with mainstream areas.
He also slammed the opponents of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) for criticizing Nawaz Sharif’s policy of constructing roads saying that they were only opposing for the sake of opposition as roads were considered to be very important part of development of any area.
The minister was also briefed on the occasion about the project and was informed that work on Haveilian-Thahkot was initiated in September 2016 and 33 per cent had so far been completed.
He was informed that the project was a part of CPEC which was being built with the Chinese support.
The total cost of the project is Rs 134 billion.
Ahsan Iqbal directed that project General Manager to hire at least 100 trainee engineers so that they could get a first hand experience from such a grand project.
He also directed to make partnership with the nearby university’s civil department to provide practical training to the final year students of the university.
To a question during media talk, the minister said currently Pakistan was fighting decisive war against terrorism and the backbone of the terrorists had almost been broken.
He said the neighboring country was trying to sabotage the CPEC project, however only internal unity harmony could ensure foiling such objectives. “CPEC belongs to all Pakistanis irrespective of any political or group affiliation, therefore in order to foil the nefarious designs of enemies of Pakistan, all political parties should get united and work for the prosperity of the country,” he added.
To another question, he said Civil-Military relationships were going on smoothly and good this relationship were key to ensuring peace and stability in the country.
Ahsan Iqbal said Faizabad sit-in was a nightmare which had potential to explode violence in the country on sectarian basis.
He said the current month belonged to founder of Pakistan Quid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah who dreamed of working with unity to make the country developed and prosperous. “Let us promise that we will work for the country’s prosperity as per dream of Quid-e-Azam and will evade hatred on the basis of region, ethnicity, and language,” he added.
To a query, the minister said Nawaz Sharif wanted a system which should provide justice for all, without any discrimination. He said the former prime minister was not against Supreme Court .
“Nawaz Sharif wanted to lead a movement to strengthen the justice system to ensure transparent and merit-based decisions for all,” he added.
To another query, the minister invited Dr Tahir ul Qadri on table of negotiation to resolve all his complaints through talks.
APP/Zub/ VNS,Islamabad
