Islamabad November 14 2021: Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired a high-level meeting to review the progress of Southern Balochistan Development Package.
The Prime Minister expressed his concern over the slow pace of development projects and of not holding the meeting of Apex Committee headed by Chief Minister Balochistan. The Prime Minister was informed that only one meeting of the Apex Committee was held in a year.
The Prime Minister emphasised on holding meetings of the Apex Committee every month and that of Execution Committee every fortnightly to speed up 200 development projects worth Rs. 655 Billion.
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PRESIDENT LINKS PAKISTAN’S PROGRESS WITH DIGITALIZATION OF ALL SECTORS
He directed the authorities concerned to complete Turbat Airport and build 02 Nursing Colleges in Gawadar and Turbat at the earliest. The Prime Minister said that he will personally hold review committee meetings every month to remove impediments in the completion of the development projects. He added that issues of Balochistan are different from rest of the country as its population is scattered, and due to long distances we have to find out of the box solutions to improve the lives of people of Balochistan. He directed Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Government of Balochistan to work in close coordination to accelerate the work on transport, energy and infrastructure projects under the Package.
Earlier the Prime Minister was briefed that Balochistan is a resource-rich province as it produces 40% of the locally produced gas in the country.. Ownership of the Federal Governments was very much needed to solve various issues being faced by this strategically very important province.
The Prime Minister directed the Balochistan Government to revamp its governance structure at the grassroots level not only to accelerate the pace of work on development projects but also to improve upon service delivery to the common man. He also directed the authorities concerned to launch an effective media campaign to ensure maximum public awareness of Government’s initiatives for the welfare of people of Balochistan.
The meeting was attended by Energy Minister Muhammad Hammad Azhar, Industries Minister Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, information Minister Ch Fawad Hussain , Maritime Affairs Minister Syed Ali Haider Zaidi, Planning Minister Asad Umar, Advisor on Finance Shaukat Fayyaz Tarin, Chief Minister Balochistan Abdul Quddus Bizengo and other senior officers concerned.
