Daily Times

Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi approved on Sunday the Lahore Elevated Expressway project and ordered for launching the Interchange Expressway Project from Gulberg to Babu Sabu at the earliest.

Chairing a meeting here, he also agreed to a proposal to run electric buses in the city.

The chief minister said that with the construction of elevated expressway, the map of Lahore would change in a few months. He ordered a review about the prospects of constructing commercial centres on the sides of the elevated expressway. The CM was informed that the expenditure cost of construction of the elevated expressway on both sides comprising four lanes would be Rs 85 billion and the first expressway would be constructed from the east to the west in the Lahore city. The distance from Gulberg to the Motorway would be covered within 8 minutes. The construction of elevated expressway would save 20-kilometre journey and 30-minute travel time.

The elevated expressway would be linked with 12 main city roads including The Mall road and the Multan Road. The access to big hospitals including Punjab Institute of Cardiology would also be easier through the elevated expressway.

The male and female students would be provided transportation facility to reach their educational institutions including the Lahore College and the Kinnaird College. The expressway would cater to more than 80,000 vehicles daily.

Former Federal Minister Moonis Elahi, former provincial minister Hashim Jawan Bakht, Principal Secretary to CM Muhammad Khan Bhatti, Chairman Planning & Development, secretaries, DG LDA and other officials attended the meeting.

CM felicitates 381 passing-out rescuers from other provinces: Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi felicitated 381 rescuers from Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) at their successful training at the Emergency Services Academy (ESA).

In his message issued on Sunday, he said the Punjab province had always been performing the role of an elder brother for the other provinces, adding that he was pleased that the Emergency Services Academy was imparting training to the Rescuers of all provinces.

The chief minister highlighted that rescuers of KPK and Gilgit-Baltistan played an important role in saving many precious lives on account of the training being imparted by the Punjab Rescue Academy. He also congratulated 107 rescuers for getting pass-out along with launching an emergency service in Sindh as well. He said that he was convinced that the trained rescuers would become a symbol of a sense of protection in Sindh like in Punjab.

The CM underscored that the Punjab government was readily available to provide assistance to all the provinces of Pakistan through the Emergency Services Academy and apprised that the Rescue Academy was not only providing training and technical assistance to Pakistan but to the other countries as well. He stated that the personnel of Rescue 1122 were the real heroes of the nation and they boldly helped the people in every difficult time.

Chief Minister Punjab Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi felicitated the national cricket team for clinching their victory against Bangladesh in an important T20 World Cup match along with qualifying for the semi-final. CM lauded that the national cricket team displayed a brilliant performance as well as sport in their match against Bangladesh.

The CM stated that the national cricket team displayed their excellent abilities adding that the prayers of the nation are with them. He hoped that the Pakistan cricket team would win the T20 World Cup.CM congratulated the people of Pakistan and the Pakistani cricket team on winning against Bangladesh. CM maintained that this triumph indicates the result of hard work adding that four wickets obtained by Shaheen Shah Afridi played a pivotal role in achieving the victory.