imageLAHORE: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Saturday said despite all-out efforts by the opponents, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government always remained successful because of its development agenda.

"The political opponents are making criticism just for the sake of power. We are clean and clear and are struggling for an effective accountability even more than the opponents," he said in a meeting with renowned intellectuals and senior journalists here on the targets and achievements of the government regarding development projects in the country.

Punjab Governor Rafiq Rajwana and Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Minister for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Pervaiz Rashid, and other federal ministers attended the meeting, said a Prime Minister House press release.

Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafiq and senior officers of the Ministry of Water and Power and National Highway Authority briefed the meeting on the ongoing projects in their respective areas.

"We have already requested the Supreme Court for across the board accountability. The apex court can widen or amend the scope of the Terms of the Reference (ToRs) of the (proposed) accountability commission. The opposition should not make unnecessary criticism," the Prime Minister remarked.

He said no corruption scandal had ever been proved during none of his governments.

The Prime Minister said besides national development, Pakistan was also forging good ties at regional and international levels and all important states, including China and the United States were desirous to extend cooperation on development projects.

He said during the year 2015, investment had been made to add around 12,000 megawatts of electricity to the national grid while the accumulative addition during last two decades remained at 10,000 MWs.

The Prime Minister said the government had saved Rs 112 billion of the public money from three power projects and was striving to bring an end to loadshedding by January 2018.

He said by 2018, the power production would increase to 33,000 MWs from current 17,000 MWs and every year, the duration of the loadshedding had decreased remarkably.

Prime Minister Nawaz told the newsmen and intellectuals that road infrastructure in the country would increase fourfold as private sector was investing in the communication projects.

He said the development projects in Gwadar were being executed swiftly which would not only benefit three billion people of the region but also the whole world.

He said the Central Asian states had keen interest in the development projects of Gwadar.

Nawaz Sharif maintained that after their completion by 2018, the gas projects would supply 1,800 million cubic feet gas to the country and after 10 years, the government had ensured an uninterrupted gas supply to the industries.

To a question from a senior journalist, the Prime Minister said besides mega projects, the government was also paying equal attention to small scale projects of public interest.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2016

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