Daily Times

Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar has said that the federal government believes in service of entire country without any discrimination.

Talking to media persons on Sunday, the planning minister said that Imran Khan is the prime minister of entire country and he does not believe in negative politics.

Responding to Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah’s complaints that the Centre has not allotted enough funds for the development of Sindh, he said that the federal government will spend on the people of Sindh and not on its government. “I think the chief minister is confused because he is unable to distinguish between the people of Sindh and the government of Sindh. Sir, you may be the government of Sindh but you are not the people of Sindh. And we will spend on the people of Sindh, not on the government of Sindh,” Umar said.

He said that the prime minister has announced two mega development packages for Sindh allocating 32 percent more for the province. Asad Umar said that the amount has been allocated for Green Line Bus Transport Project, K-IV Water Project, drainage in Karachi, universities of Sindh, small dams and many other projects.

He said that the funds that had gone from the Centre to Sindh in the past had “resulted in palaces being constructed, diamond necklaces being discovered in Switzerland and towers being constructed in Dubai, and assets being accumulated in France”.

“The people of Sindh know of what I speak, whether it is citizens living in the urban areas or in villages. The rest of Pakistan, on the other hand, may not even know how poorly developed Sindh is,” the minister added.

Umar reminded everyone that PM Imran Khan had announced, within a year of coming into power, not one but two “historic” development packages which cover urban areas as well as rural areas, extending to 18 districts.

The federation, through the Ministry of Planning, Development & Special Initiatives, through the Public Private Partnership Authority, and with the help of other federal government institutions that are spending out of their own budget, will spend more than Rs1,000bn on Sindh over the course of three years, he said.

Speaking of the criticism levelled by Shah against the neglect of motorway projects, especially those by National Highway Authority, Umar said he was stunned to read about the same. “It would have been better for his party had he not mentioned any of this,” the minister said.

Umar said when the PTI came into power, work on the Multan-Sukkur motorway had already begun and it was this government that finished the project, after investing Rs98 billion into it so that the province can have its first real motorway project.

Moving on to the Sukkur-Hyderabad motorway project, he said that the Public Private Partnership Authority board has accorded approval. It is headed towards bidding which will soon be complete. Umar said that the federal government will invest a “very generous amount” of more than Rs200bn for its completion.