MUZAFFARABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Friday
expressed confidence about the future of his party and declared that
people would again elect the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz to power in
the general elections next year.
“We are not afraid of
any conspiracy. We have come with the power of the people and Allah
willing the same power will again return the PML-N to power on July 15,
2018,” he said in his speech at the inauguration ceremony of the
147-megawatt Patrind hydropower project here.
The project has been completed by a South Korean company at a cost of $346 million.
“We
are not political orphans. The record of our government stands out. We
do not need support in this regard,” the prime minister added.
“These
days I am coming across speculations over whether or not the government
will complete its term. I have a submission for these gentlemen. Please
carry on your wheeler-dealer ways; the government will complete its
term till June 1 and [until then] every week a new mega project will be
inaugurated,” he said.
“Then, whoever wants to fight us should do so in the electoral field on July 15, 2018,” he added.
Inaugurates Patrind hydropower project
The prime minister said the people of Pakistan knew very
well “who has been delivering and who has just been gossiping about
others”.
“We have never abused or defamed anyone; nor
have we ever raised hollow slogans. We have shown our performance on the
ground,” he asserted.
He listed one by one several
sectors where, according to him, the PML-N government had delivered to
the satisfaction of the masses.
“Today you visit any province or city, you will find the PML-N projects,” he said.
Referring
to the energy sector, he claimed that Pakistan was now self-sufficient
in electricity. “There is no doubt that now our capacity to produce
electricity is more than our demand, not only in winter, but also in
summer.
“The projects that have been commissioned or are in the pipeline will meet energy needs of Pakistan till 2030.”
Drawing
a comparison between “the governments coming to power from 2000 to 2013
and the one that came to power in 2013”, he pointed out that in 2013
the total electricity production in the country stood at
20,000-22,000MW, including generation from Mangla and Tarbela dams.
“By
the grace of Allah, this government has produced more than 4,500MW in
four and a half years and not only that projects worth several thousand
megawatts are under construction,” he said.
“There is a
long queue of projects over the Jhelum river,” he said, adding that the
first phase of Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project would be completed by
February while the second phase was likely to be completed by May 2018.
Mr Abbasi said these projects had remained unattended for decades as nobody bothered to initiate, let alone, complete them.
It
was the government of Nawaz Sharif and the PML-N that completed these
projects with a great deal of effort and endeavour, he maintained.
“I
challenge those who take part in TV talk shows to provide me a list of
power plants, dams, canals, highways they initiated or completed between
2000 and 2013, and the whole picture will be clear,” he said.
Referring
to the Lowari Tunnel, he said that the project remained in limbo for 45
years, but the PML-N government completed it by spending Rs 28 billion
on it.
Similarly, he said, the Bhasha dam project saw
groundbreaking ceremonies by some five previous governments, but the
PML-N government actively took up the project.
“I am
fully confident that construction work will begin soon because it’s the
country’s requirement. We have to store water and use it for irrigation
purposes.”
