Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has directed federal ministers to pay full heed towards ongoing development projects instead of wasting their energies in giving replies to their political opponents.

The cabinet has in principal given approval for the commission which would to be constituted for the probe into the Panama leak papers. The PM issued instructions to the Finance Ministry to speed up the development work in the constituencies of MNAs and MPAs hailing from PML(N).

While speaking to the Federal Cabinet, the Prime Minister said that no compromise would be made on the development of the country . The political opponents were trying to obstruct Pakistan’s progress. They know that their politics would be buried in 2018 when the PML(N) government would tackle the energy crises. The opposition is afraid of the development as well as the success of the government. All the international institutions are praising the fiscal policies of Pakistan. “Gwader port would be the centre of the development of the country. In the past no government after 1999 succeeded to invest in the energy sector, the government brought the investment of 34 billion dollars in this sector, which is not a debt”, he added.

The Premier said that he was very satisfied upon the production of electricity from coal in Thar. The government has set standards regarding transparency in development projects. He said that the government was ready to take all the challenges faced by the country. “We will manage the deficiency of gas during our tenure. The PML(N) government would fulfil its manifesto”, Sharif added.

The cabinet also agreed to evolve a practical and effective strategy to counter the drive against the government in the media.

The Daily Times came to know that Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan was not present in the cabinet meeting as he was abroad.

Many ministers complained to the Prime Minister that only the Interior Ministry was given the budget of Rs 14.58 billion, whereas the original budget allocation for the ministry was Rs 12.33 billion.

The Ministry of Finance adopts a biased behavior with other ministries while earmarking the budget. On the other hand only two months are left in closing of the fiscal year but several ministries were given only 40 per cent of the budgetary allocations. “The development projects could be halted if the Finance Ministry would not release funds”, the minister complained. Reacting to this the PM issued directives to Finance Ministry to issue funds to all the ministries without any discrimination.

The cabinet meeting also discussed the matters regarding the probe into the Panama leaks, the current political situation of the country, the ongoing development projects and the next budget. The Prime Minister also sought the budget proposal from the federal ministers.

The cabinet members expressed their full confidence in the Prime Minister regarding the investigation of the Panama leak papers. The cabinet also ratified all the decisions of the prime minister, especially after noting that the PM presented himself before the Chief Justice for an enquiry into the Panama leak papers.

The meeting was also briefed on the projects of two motorways for which the Chinese Council has approved 4.5 billion dollars. Under these projects two motorways would be constructed from Sukkur to Multan and Havellian to Thakot.

During the meeting Federal Finance Minister, Ishaq Dar, briefed the cabinet about the upcoming budget, financial policies of the government, ongoing development projects and the future strategy to deal with the energy crises.

Dar told the cabinet that it would be proposed in the next budget to fix the target of Rs 3600 billion of tax revenue. In the budget new taxes of Rs. 100 billion would be levied. These taxes would be imposed on ending of different tax holidays. The Finance Minister said that the rate of inflation would be kept at five per cent and the fiscal deficit would be brought to 4.3 per cent during the next financial year.