President Zardari seeks help on South Punjab province
06 March, 2013
MULTAN: President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday called upon all the political forces to come forward and support the government in its efforts for the creation of South Punjab province. The president told a ceremony held on the occasion of inauguration of Rasheedabad flyover and ground-breaking of a bridge over river Ravi at Syedwala that the constitution of a commission by the government was demonstration of its sincerity to respect the legitimate aspirations of the people of South Punjab and address their genuine grievances. The president recalled that he had especially advised the former prime minister during his tenure to make every possible effort for the socio-economic development of the area and to bring about qualitative change in the lives of people. He said that the government was aware of the sense of deprivation and that was why the government had moved decisively to make a separate province of South Punjab. The president said that the present government had paid special attention towards the socio-economic development of the people of South Punjab by undertaking a number of development projects aimed at improving the quality of their lives and to end their sense of deprivation. He said that it was a matter of great satisfaction to see a number of projects being completed and added that much more still needed to be done. The president said that the present democratic government accorded top priority to the road connectivity projects and despite daunting challenges and difficult economic situation utilised all available resources to provide a decent travelling and road facilities to the people of the country. The president said that these projects would enhance road connectivity in South Punjab on one hand and further promoting socio-economic, commercial and agricultural development of the area on the other. He said that the communication projects would create ample employment opportunities for people of the area and would improve the life standards of the common people, hence ushering a new era of progress and prosperity in South Punjab. The president said that present democratic government during its five-year tenure focused on development of South Punjab and worked earnestly for bringing the people of the area into the mainstream of national life. Commenting on government's initiatives for development of South Punjab, the president said that under development package for South Punjab various development projects have been completed and many are in the pipeline. The president said that geo-strategic location of Pakistan at the crossroads of Central and South Asia offers the country to serve a huge market of over 3 billion in our neighbourhood and urged the need for building and further improving communication networks to attract investment and bolster business and trade activities in the country. He said that high quality road and communication linkages would help attract regional and international traffic to our country and will give a much needed boost to the trade and commercial activities in the country. The road projects, the president said, would also help in introduction of our industrial products in markets of other countries of the region and beyond in a speedy and cost effective manner. End.
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