Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday said, "I see a great potential in the youth of Pakistan who can bring about economic revolution and development in the country through their energies and dynamism."
While addressing a ceremony to perform 2nd balloting of Prime Minister's Youth Business Loan Scheme and distribute cheques amongst the successful candidates of 1st balloting here, Nawaz said middle and lower-middle classes have contributed to the development of nations like Germany and Japan, and therefore, I hold great expectations from the youth of these classes in Pakistan.
The Prime Minister was accompanied by Maryam Nawaz Chairperson Prime Minister's Youth Programme, Ishaq Dar Minister for Finance, Ashraf Mahmood Wathra Governor State Bank of Pakistan and Iqbal Ashraf President National Bank of Pakistan. The Prime Minister further said that the Business Loan Scheme would enable thousands of Pakistani youth to gain financial independence and also prove to be a source of major economic activity. The scheme is totally transparent and based on merit, he added.
Emphasizing the role of women in the development of Pakistan, the Prime Minister said our government is providing equal opportunities to women in all sectors and therefore all the schemes of Prime Minister's Youth Programme contain 50 percent quota for females. The Prime Minister directed the governor State Bank to engage other Pakistani private banks to participate in these schemes.
"Previously, banks only entertained the affluent class while as the poor were not even allowed to enter banks, but our government provided opportunities to the marginalized population for gaining economic independence," the Prime Minister said. Money accumulated in the treasury belongs to the people of Pakistan and they have every right to utilise it for their benefit. It is our obligation to provide services and initiate welfare projects, he added.
The Prime Minister also congratulated and appreciated the efforts of Ishaq Dar in presenting a development oriented and pro-poor budget for 2014-15. While elaborating the salient features of the budget, the Prime Minister said we expect to control inflation, hope significant investment and development projects. The Prime Minister further said that by the grace of Almighty Allah and hard work of our team the government has been able to achieve the 16.4 percent revenues against the target of 21 percent which is almost 90 percent success. Nawaz said livestock insurance scheme has been included in the 2014-15 budget that will provide security to small scale and poor farmers in protection of investment.
The Prime Minister emphasised that the government's top most priority is getting rid of power load shedding and for this purpose 21,000 MW power projects for the next 8-10 years have been planned. He further said unfortunately previous governments did not pay attention to the energy crisis and machinery for Nandi Pur power project lied rusting at the Karachi port while people were suffering long hours of load shedding.
"Our government, in a short period of only eight months re-activated and completed this project which shows our commitment to solve the energy crisis," the Prime Minister said. Moreover, he said a multi-purpose mega project of Diamer-Bhasha dam costing $12 billion and with a capacity of 4,500 MW is being undertaken which will not only generate electricity but also help manage our water resources that are being wasted. The Prime Minister also referred to the $35 billion Pak-China Economic Corridor that would change the fate of the country. He further said that work on Karachi-Lahore Motorway would be initiated soon as Rs 55 billion have been allocated for land acquisition that is to be completed in three months.
The Prime Minister said we should not indulge in politics of leg pulling and unnecessary criticism. People of Pakistan have shown their confidence in us during last elections and it is they who would again decide in 2018 elections based on our performance, the Prime Minister added.
Later, the Prime Minister performed the 2nd computerised balloting of the Youth Business Loan Scheme in which 5,169 loans were awarded to the applicants whose applications were approved by National Bank. He also gave away cheques to some of the successful candidates of the 1st balloting. He also directed the President National Bank to forward all the cheques by 15th of June, 2014.-PR