Working to meet all challenges: PM Shehbaz Sharif

SUKKUR: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday admitted that there were many difficulties and challenges being faced by the country. “On the one hand, there is an economic crisis brought on by the previous government and, on the other hand, there is burden of inflation, there are strict conditions of the IMF and then flood.”

Addressing the dignitaries after performing the ground breaking ceremony of the much-awaited Sukkur to Hyderabad section of M6 Motorway project, the prime minister said the coalition government was working to overcome these problems. But he warned that there was a conscious effort to create a state of agitation in the country. He said that Imran was a stone hearted person who did not visit the flood-affected areas and was now trying to incite the nation. “I strongly hope that intelligent people will not come to his support.”

The premier also said that the project should be completed within 30 months, adding that the motorway, once completed, would be beneficial for transporters and passengers. The project is being completed under a public-private partnership agreement. He urged the Ministry of Planning to come forward and plan key projects on the basis of Private Public Partnership, in order to encourage this model of investment in Pakistan. He lauded the role of Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah in the promotion of PPP model in the province, urging authorities to promote it in other provinces as well. He requested Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal and Maulana Asad Mahmood to take the motorway construction on a war footing.

Shehbaz warned that he will make surprise visits to the site to see the speed and quality of work. “Consider it my bad or good habit, I make surprise visits to projects. Will take [Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali] Shah to oversee the quality,” PM Shehbaz told the audience.

The premier also stated that without Balochistan’s progress, Pakistan will not prosper, adding that there was a need to make the Gwadar Port operational. He said this project was unnecessarily delayed by the previous government. “The coalition government is committed to bringing development and prosperity in all deprived areas of the country, including Balochistan and Sindh.” He stressed on the importance of better road connections to Balochistan. “Without the development of Balochistan, Pakistan’s development is incomplete.”

Shehbaz said that on his instructions, wheat was being procured from Gwadar to make the port operational. He said that various excuses were given, including an increase in the cost of land freight. “We not only saved a few billion rupees by reducing the price of wheat even from the lowest bidders but also made progress by procuring wheat through Gwadar.” He said the dream of development and prosperity cannot be fulfilled without laying a network of roads.

Shehbaz said that today was an important day for the fulfilment of former prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif’s dream of connecting the entire country through motorways. He said this project was delayed for a long period. However, it will now be completed in a period of 30 months and will start benefiting the people of Sindh and Pakistan. He said the M-6 is the last part of the Peshawar-Karachi route after which all major cities will be connected by the motorway. The prime minister said the material used in the construction of the said project would be similar to that utilised in the construction of motorways across Pakistan. “Through our joint efforts, we will achieve this quality and completion period.”

Shehbaz praised the provincial government and leadership of Pakistan Peoples Party for doing ‘excellent work’ for the flood victims in various areas of Sindh, including Dadu and Qamber-Shahdadkot and said that there was still a lot of work to be done, millions of people were destitute and many difficulties and challenges were there. “We will not leave our brothers and sisters in distress and will do whatever is possible for them; all resources will be used in this regard.” He said that the recent floods have caused destruction all over the country. Most destruction happened in Sindh, followed by destruction in Balochistan. Besides, there was destruction in two districts of Punjab. He said that during this time, the federal and provincial governments spent more than 100 billion rupees on the rehabilitation of flood victims. “Yet millions of people are still forced to live without tents in cold weather, they need medicine and food.”

Shehbaz Sharif said that such a huge disaster was caused by the flood and there was damage of more than 30 billion dollars. “We will go to the donor conference in Geneva on January 9 for our right.”

The prime minister also announced to visit the flood-affected areas soon and expressed the belief that the government would take the country out of challenges and problems. The prime minister said that during the previous PMLN government, Nawaz Sharif had announced a development package of 50 crore rupees for Hyderabad, which could not be implemented.

Ahead of the PM’s address, former planning minister Asad Umar congratulated the people of Sindh for the start of work on the Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway but lamented the eight-month delay in it.

Umar said that the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) had approved the project during former prime minister Imran Khan’s tenure in 2021. He also shared that the project was approved by the Public-Private Partnership Board on March 31, 2022. “Before this, the contractor was also selected. Now after wasting eight months, the imported government is starting work,” tweeted Umar.

Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Water Resources Syed Khursheed Ahmad Shah termed M6 as the most important project for the economy and said that work on it should have started long ago. He said that Sindh had three ports and in order to use them in their true sense, a network of motorways was needed.

He emphasized on the need to build a motorway to connect Balochistan with Punjab and requested the prime minister to review the project of Karachi-Hub-Dadu highway. He regretted that the project was stopped for three and a half years by the previous government.

Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah, addressing the ceremony, said there were fears that local people would not get employment in the M-6 Motorway project in Sindh. He hoped that jobs would be given to local people in the project. He said the perception of unrest in the whole of Sindh was wrong; only there are some bandits near the Punjab border. He said that the bandits who martyred five police officers have been eliminated. He claimed the Sindh Police have no shortage of funds to bring peace.

Murad Ali Shah said that former PM Nawaz Sharif had announced to repair the Rohri Bridge and asked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to carry out the remaining repair work of the bridge.

He said that the old National Highway also needs renovation and repair to reduce the traffic problem from Punjab to Karachi. He demanded to provide funds for the rehabilitation of Sukkur-Hyderabad National Highway and to set the toll of M6 in line with the remaining sections of the motorway. He appreciated the prime minister for visiting the flood victims several times and said that flood water was still standing in some districts and people needed tents and food.

JUI-F Sindh General Secretary Rashid Mehmood Soomro said the people of Sindh did not want to see a new province within their province and rejected any new province. While addressing the opening ceremony, Rashid Soomro said that there was bandit rule in Sindh. The concession agreement for the construction of Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway project was signed between the National Highway Authority (NHA) and the contractor in December 2021.

Under the transaction structure approved by the Public Private Partnership Board, the federal government will contribute only Rs9.5 billion over the construction period while the remaining project cost of Rs297.5 billion would be borne by the private party through equity and commercial debt.

The private party will also pay a minimum of Rs408 billion to the NHA and estimated corporate taxes of Rs908 billion over the concession period. In addition, the project will be transferred to the NHA at no cost at the end of the concession period.

The motorway commonly, known as M6 Motorway, is the largest project under the PPP umbrella signed in the history of the country. The project was structured by the federal Public Private Partnership Authority (P3A) under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) mode in collaboration with the NHA.

The motorway spanning a length of 306 kilometres will comprise six lanes. Designed to be constructed as a climate-resilient project, the private party shall construct and operate the project for 25 years commencing from the date of execution of the agreement.

The project will complete the missing link of the north-south (Peshawar-Karachi) motorway network. The project is expected to bring economic benefits in terms of saving significant travel time and travel costs, and lifting the socio-economic profile of the region.