Daily Times

Prime Minister Imran Khan Monday said that with the government planning to spend over Rs 100 billion per annum for 10 years in the tribal districts, people in tribal areas will see an unprecedented development in the region.

“Living up to our commitment, a three-week consultative process on 10-year development plan for former FATA is being initiated, starting from Bajaur,” the prime minister said in a tweet. “Our people in the tribal area will see unprecedented development as the government plans to spend over Rs100 billion annually for 10 years in tribal districts,” he added.

While chairing a meeting at the PM Office to review progress on the federal government’s development projects in Karachi, including the Green Line project, Prime Minister Imran Khan called for enhanced cooperation between Centre and Sindh to ensure the success of public-welfare projects initiated by the federal government in Karachi. He said the development projects initiated by the federal government in Sindh, particularly in Karachi, are aimed at helping the provincial government in addressing the problems of masses.

The meeting was given a detailed briefing about the progress and functioning of the Green Line project. Other projects under the Karachi package were also reviewed.

PM calls for enhanced Centre-Sindh cooperation to ensure success of federal government projects in Karachi

The prime minister said the element of environment should be kept in mind in all the development projects of big cities like Karachi. He said long-term planning should be done to address the issues faced by the people of Karachi, including that of growing population and the environmental problem.

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, Special Assistant to Prime Minister Iftikhar Durrani, Prime Minister’s Spokesman Nadeem Afzal Chan, secretaries of finance, planning and cabinet, chief secretary Sindh, chief executive officer of KIDC Saleh Farooqui and others attended the meeting.

While talking to a World Bank delegation headed by Vice President South Asia Hartwig Schafer at the PM Office, Prime Minister Imran Khan appreciated the bank’s continued engagement with Pakistan and its support towards capacity building, infrastructure development and economic growth.

The delegation offered the WB’s assistance in attracting foreign investment, analytics, sharing of expertise and technical knowledge in various sectors to help the government translate its vision into reality.

Hails WB’s continued engagement with Pakistan

The prime minister welcomed the offer and said Pakistan looks forward to greater partnership with the World Bank in critical areas such as building knowledge economy and developing tourism sector, especially eco-tourism, mountain and religious tourism which, he said, have a huge potential towards uplift of the poor and poverty alleviation. He also highlighted various steps being taken by the present government towards economic stability, poverty alleviation and improving ease of doing business in the country.

The delegation lauded the prime minister’s vision regarding progress of the country especially his focus on economic stability, human development and addressing the issue of stunted growth due to malnutrition.

The delegation briefed the prime minister about various ongoing projects of the World Bank in various sectors, including water supply, sewerage and waste management, transportation and connectivity, capacity building and ease of doing business in the country.

Published in Daily Times, March 19^th 2019.