Four days in office, Pakistan’s new PM holds whirlwind meetings to ensure relief for masses

ISLAMABAD: After taking the oath of office as new Prime Minister of Pakistan on April 11, Shahbaz Sharif has chaired marathon meetings focusing on how to provide much-needed relief to the people and put the economy of the country back on track.

The prime minister has also revised the Ramadan timings announcing the workday will start at 8am instead of 10am.

Besides, the two-day weekend for the federal government offices and banks, has also been abolished. Now they have only Sunday off like the rest of the country.

“Neither I waste time, nor I like my team to do,” said Shahbaz Sharif in one of his whirlwind meetings directing his team to keep pace with him in achieving the targets of public delivery.

True to his repute of getting up early in the morning and visiting various sites and projects that are under construction, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif visited the Peshawar Mor station of the Islamabad metro bus service at around 7am and after finding the project far from completion, ordered an inquiry into the ‘inordinate delay in the initiation of the service from there to the Islamabad International Airport (IIA).’

The prime minister resented that the project, launched by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government in 2017 with a stipulated completion time of a year, was still incomplete and pointed out that Rs16 billion (Dh321.40 million) had been spent on the project so far.

Construction of the 26km metro track worth Rs16 billion started in January 2017 and the project was executed by the National Highway Authority (NHA).

It was supposed to be completed in August 2018, but even after four years since the deadline is over, the project is facing delay and its civil work was completed only last year.

The prime minister directed the relevant authorities to start the bus service by the weekend. He also ordered initiation of a free metro service for residents of the capital during the month of Ramadan.

According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, former Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, PML-N Secretary information Maryam Aurangzeb, former MPs from Islamabad Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, Hanif Abbasi and Anjum Aqeel also accompanied the prime minister during the inspection and visit of the route.

The premier asked the officials to ensure the installation of racks in the buses to accommodate the luggage of passengers going to the airport.

On Wednesday, visiting Karachi, Sharif said that procurement of thousands of air-conditioned buses in transparent process will be the only effective way to resolve the chronic daily commuting issue of the Karachiites.

Sharif gave the suggestion while talking to journalists after he met Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah at the CM House and had a briefing on the ongoing development initiatives in the province.

Sharif along with the chiefs of the allied political parties paid a visit to the Mausoleum of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah to reiterate his resolve to run the country in accordance with the principles of the founder of Pakistan.

He told the media that a large number of buses should be brought into the city in addition to the efforts of the Sindh government to build different sections of the Bus Rapid Transit Service for building a modern mass transit network in Karachi.

He said that the pre-qualification procedure would then be adopted by the government to select the transporters having good repute to operate these buses.

He said the selected transporters would get loans from banks to get these buses for putting them into operation.

Sharif suggested that the federal and Sindh governments should combine their financial resources to pay the interest and service charges on these bank loans to make it a viable proposition for the chosen transporters to run the buses in the city.

The PM said that he would also request the Chinese government to accept the proposal of the Sindh government to complete the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) regime.

He said that a couple of years ago, the Chinese authorities had initially considered including the KCR in the CPEC but the proposal couldn’t be formalised later due to changes in circumstances.

Sharif said that he asked the relevant authorities to fully complete K-IV bulk water supply project for Karachi by 2024 so that potable water was available to all the residents of the city.

He appreciated the efforts of the CM and his team to launch different development schemes to fulfil the important needs of the residents of Sindh. He said that he had assured the Sindh CM that his government stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the provincial administration in its drive to develop the province.

The PM also visited in Karachi the headquarters of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) as an important ally of his government to discuss issues related to the development of Karachi. At MQM’s headquarters, the PM announced to build a new university in Karachi.