Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has said that politicians, industrialists, traders, bureaucrats, judges, generals and all members of the society will help to play an active role for national progress and development. He said that a respectable status for the country can be achieved by adopting the golden principle of honesty and hard work. He said that traders’ community is the backbone of national economy and traders and industrialists are providing jobs to millions of people. He said that all genuine problems of traders and industrialists would be resolved on priority basis.
He was talking to a representative delegation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Faisalabad and traders organizations, here on Friday. Provincial Minister for Industry Chaudhary Muhammad Shafique, MNA Pervaiz Malik, Secretary Industry, Managing Director SNGPL, Vice Chairman Punjab Investment Board and other officers were also present on the occasion.
The delegation thanked Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif for the supply of gas to the Faisalabad industries and his active role for acquiring GSP Plus status for Pakistan. The delegation also informed about development problems of Faisalabad.
Speaking to the delegation, the Chief Minister said that generation of additional resources is essential for the strengthening of national economy and progress and prosperity of the country. He said that promotion of tax culture is of vital importance for achieving the goal of progress and prosperity. He said that every member of the society will have to contribute towards national development. He said that agriculture, industry and trade sectors are providing job opportunities to people. He said that the goal of national development can be achieved by promotion of industry and trade. He said that energy is of paramount importance for industrial sector and in view of this fact Punjab government is making every effort for dealing with the energy problem. He said that corruption and wrong policies of former rulers brought a bad name to the country while lack of attention to energy crisis badly affected industrial sector. He said that Nandipur Power Project was delayed due to greed and lust for money of the former rulers and an additional amount of 30 billion rupees of the poor nation will now have to be spent on this project. He said that present government is working day and night on Nandipur Power Project and the first turbine of the project will start generating electricity from April this year.
He said that Pakistan Muslim League-N government is fully aware of the gravity of energy crisis and is making every effort for resolving this issue. He said that Punjab government has identified land for setting up coal-based power plants in Faisalabad, Sheikhupura and Sahiwal and these projects will be executed expeditiously.
The CM further said that Pakistan is making rapid progress due to solid economic policies of the government and every effort will be made for resolving energy and other issues. He said that Faisalabad is a hub of trade and economic activities and development problems of the city would be resolved on priority basis. He directed provincial ministers and secretaries of Industry, Housing and Transport to visit Faisalabad on Monday and hold a joint meeting with representatives of administration and traders and industrialists for taking measures for resolving developmental issues of the city.
The Chief Minister directed Secretary Industry to contact federal government for dealing with the issues concerning the federal government. He also directed that a comprehensive strategy be adopted for installation of water treatment plants in industries for saving rivers and canals from contamination and provision of a healthy environment to the people.
