Pb Govt Focuses On South Punjab's Uplift

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Aug, 2020 ) :The Punjab government has achieved a milestone by allocating 35 percent annual development budget for South Punjab which is first step towards the establishment of new province as it was promised by Prime Minister Imran Khan during general elections.

The PTI government was taking solid steps for new province, a spokesman for PTI said here on Sunday.

The Punjab government has announced civil Secretariat for South Punjab, where, Additional Chief Secretary and Addl IGP would perform duties with full authority to resolve the issues of people.

About 16 department's would be functional in South Punjab Secretariat in first phase where Additional secretaries would work as secretaries while within next three to four months remaining 17 provincial department's would also be functional in South Punjab, the spokesman maintained.

He said the previous PML-N government had only held 17 provincial cabinet committee meetings but the present PTI government had organized 34 meetings of provincial cabinet committee during two years in which Punjab Advertisement Policy 2020, Command Area Modification Policy 2020, Forest Policy 2019, New Policy Assessment Framework 2019, Literacy and Non Formal education Policy 2019, Punjab Tourism Policy 2019, Punjab Agriculture Policy 2019, Punjab Labour Policy 2018, Punjab Water Policy 2018, Punjab Industry Policy 2018 were approved while three drafts of Punjab Social Protection Policy, Transgender Person Welfare Policy and Punjab Livestock Policy would be presented in next cabinet committee meeting.

Regarding development projects, River Ravi Front Urban Development project was among top mega uplift projects of the country as it can boost economic activities besides creating new employment, adding that an authority has been established for this projects, it's chairman and members have also been designated.

However, 13 mega uplift projects including Lahore Ring Road Southern Loop, Firdous Market Underpass, Rawalpindi Ring Road, Jalalpur Canal project, Khanki Barrage and Underground Water Sewerage Programme in Lahore through public private partnership were being completed with a cost of Rs 140 billion.

Since the creation of Pakistan, only 30 special economic zones were established but Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar led provincial government has started work on 13 special economic zones within short span of time.

Out of these 13 special economic times, seven including Vehari, Bhalwal and Rahim Yar Khan industrial zones have been approved by the Federal government while Gujranwala and Wazirabad industrial zones have been completed. The work on Quaid e Azam business Park Sheikhupura has also been initiated and 563 industrial units would be setup at 1536 acres of land under this project that would attract the investment of Rs 250 billion besides creating 500,000 jobs.

The work on Allama Iqbal Industrial City Faisalabad was in progress, adding this project would bring foreign investment of about Rs 400 billion, besides creating 300,000 direct and 1000,000 indirect employment. The Punjab government would give 10 years tax exemption to the industrial unit setup in special economic zones besides waiving off duty on import of machinery within one year.

A special economic zones was being started in Bahawalpur for uplift of South Punjab while Punjab small industries corporation has allocated Rs 12 billion for giving personal loans to the youth ranging from Rs 25,000 to Rs 5 million. An investment of 170 milliondollars was also expected through Punjab board of Investment and Trade, the spokesmanadded.