Federal Minister for Communications & Postal Services Murad Saeed has said that the incumbent government is paying special attention on Balochistan’s development and uplift of living standard of its people as progress of the province is infact the development of the country. Giving the details of construction extension and maintenance schemes of national highways in Balochistan province during the rule of the sitting government, he said Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan has realised the promise of uplift of far flung areas of the country by undertaking number of road building schemes in Balochistan. Murad Saeed said that as compared to the former governments, PM Khan has taken keen interest in development of Balochistan, and to this effect practical advancement is being made to put Balochistan on the track to development. He said, “Our endeavor is to transform Balochistan into a prosperous, peaceful and developed province where people may avail all facilities like clean drinking water, employment and business opportunities equally.” He further stated that steps taken during the last three years are bringing fruit, and people are observing its effects in every walk of life. He said the present government not only approved western route of CPEC but also started Zhob-Kuchlak project. Further work on 146Km Hoshab-Awaran project is at full swing and progress on this project is ahead of schedule, he said. The minister recalled that PM Khan performed groundbreaking ceremony of Quetta Western bypass and Dera Murad Jamali bypass this year, and work on Dera Murad Jamali bypass is in progress. He said work on 165km Ziarat Mor – Kuch -Harnai Highway and 198km Basima-Khuzdar Highway is also in progress. He said, construction work of Basima-Khuzdar will be completed this year. Murad Saeed continued that the prime minister will perform groundbreaking of Jhaljao-Bela project in the coming week. He said procurement of one section of Karachi-Chaman-Quetta-Khuzdar project has been completed, while tender for second section of 330km has been advertised. Both sections will be completed on Build Operate Transfer (BOT) basis, he said, adding that the total length of this road project is 796km. He said these road projects in Balochistan will reduce distances, promote tourism, and local produce could be taken to the markets well in time. “These developmental projects in Balochistan will link up Balochistan with rest of the country, and the locals will avail direct and indirect employment chances. Construction and extension of the road will usher in new era of economic development, and availability of CPEC will prepare the ground for economic development of the whole region as well,” the federal minister added. Murad Saeed said that PTI government constructed national highways and motorways at a low cost as compared to previous government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). He added that the present government saved precious money of the nation in every sector transparently, whereas the previous governments caused huge damages to the national exchequer by looting and signing expensive contracts on huge loans.