WEDNESDAY JUNE 17: Karachi bus project: It will be fully funded by federal government: Prime Minister

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday clarified his earlier controversial remakes that "a strike is called in Karachi even when a housefly dies" and said that he had not started the talk of 'fly' while someone else in the meeting had started it and his attention was drawn by the Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad to the statement.
The Prime Minster clarified this on the floor of the National Assembly while responding Muttahida Qaumi Movement's (MQM) leader Abdul Rashid Godil and said that someone else has stated and his attention was drawn by Sindh Governor to the culture of protests and strikes in Karachi.
-- 'Housefly' remarks clarified
The controversial comment drew a sharp criticism from opposition politicians, with MQM chief Altaf Hussain demanding an apology from the premier and cautioning him to be "careful in choosing his words". The Prime Minster said he hoped that Rashid Godil will be satisfied with his clarification. He said he will also talk to MQM in this regard whenever there is a meeting with them. The Prime Minister said that the federal government is working on several development projects with Sindh government. He said that in this regard, he had talked to Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah.
About K-4 project of water supply, the Prime Minister said that it is purely a provincial project, but federal government would help it and give matching funds for K-4 water project in Karachi to resolve the water problem. He said that if the provincial government allocates Rs 2.5 billion, the federal government would also give Rs 2.5 billion. He said that federal government has already released Rs 2 billion for the project and Rs 50 million would also be released. He said that it is the responsibility of the province to start such projects.
He said that the federal government would give Green Line bus project to the province as gift. He said that the federal government has already allocated Rs 5 billion for this project. He said this is a mega project and is expected to be completed at a cost of Rs 20 billion to Rs 25 billion. He said that the federal government will provide 100% funds for the project. He said that Lahore and Rawalpindi Metro Bus Projects were of Punjab government.
He said work on Hyderabad-Karachi Motorway has also been started and it will be completed by 2017. He said that work on culverts has begun and after completion the work of motorway construction will start immediately. The Prime Minster said that Motorway from Hyderabad-Sukkur and Sukkur-Multan and Multan-Lahore would be completed in his tenure. He said that he also chaired a meeting yesterday morning, which was attended by Director General FWO and Chairman National Highway Authority where all the matters came under discussion.
He said the government has also started a mega project to connect Gwadar Port with the Central Asian states and then to the Western route of Pakistan-China Economic Corridor. He said that all the link roads from Gwadar to Quetta and Quetta to Chaman will be connected with the Central Asian City of Tirmiz, connecting four Central Asian states - Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
The Prime Minster also said that the Quetta-Chaman route will be completed by the end of 2016. He said that a route from Chaman-Kandahar-Mazar-e-Sharif-Tirmiz will be developed. He said work on Peshawar-Torkham-Jalalabad-Tirmiz motorway is going on. FWO is working on this project, which will be completed soon.
He said that a route from Jalalabad to Kabul-Mazar-e-Sharif and Tirmiz would be extended. He said with the completion of these routes, Balochistan will be connected to all parts of the country. He said these are big communication projects which will connect the whole country. He said these projects are necessary for integrity, unity and cohesion of the country, ending Balochistan's sense of deprivation.
Earlier, Abdul Rashid Godil of MQM said that Karachi has 14.5 % of the total population of the country, but the government did not even allocate 1% in Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) to this city of teeming millions. He said that four hospitals in Karachi are not fulfilling the needs of the people. He said that the problems of people of Karachi could not be resolved by describing them as flies. He said that the people of Karachi want to set their priorities on the basis of their needs. About China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Godil said that Chian will earn $300 billion annually from connectivity with Gwadar Port.