HYDERABAD, July 17: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has assured the people of Hyderabad that a Rs10.5 billion development package announced by President General Pervez Musharraf will be implemented without any further delay.

He also announced an additional Rs1 billion for Hyderabad city for providing clean and filtered water to people.

He was addressing a big public meeting organized by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement at the Bagh-i-Mustafa ground on Sunday evening.

The prime minister, who was scheduled to address the meeting at 4pm, arrived late by an hour and 10 minutes as he had gone to Ghotki to visit the place of the train accident. However, people at the meeting, including a large number of women, waited for over 4 hours in the sultry weather for his address.

Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan, Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, federal ministers Liaquat Jatoi, Babar Ghouri, Shamim Siddiqui, deputy convener of the MQM Coordination Committee Dr Farooq Sattar and MQM parliamentarians attended the meeting.

Mr Aziz said he was greatly impressed by the reception given by the people of Hyderabad on his first visit to the historic city and thanked MQM chief Altaf Hussain and the organisation for providing him this opportunity.

He said the coalition partners in the government were working hard for the development and prosperity of the people without any discrimination.

Amidst applause, he declared: “We will change the destiny of Hyderabad. We are also committed to improving socio-economic condition of every single man in the country.”

He added that a lot had to be done in rural areas.

He said that the Hyderabad Development Package would be implemented for construction of roads, improvement of water supply and sanitation system in Hyderabad, Matiari, Tando Mohammad Khan and Tando Allahyar.

He also announced an additional amount of Rs1 billion to provide clean water to the people through filter plants. He said that he was aware of the loss of lives and pain suffered by people of the city due to non-availability of clean drinking water.

He urged the people to take active part in the ensuing local body elections and vote for honest and selfless candidates.

Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan said that Hyderabad had been destroyed and implementation of the Rs10.5 billion package would transform it. The governor said that the nation’s future was directly linked to the question of preparedness against terrorism, extremism and sectarianism because all these issues had a global effect.

Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim said that coalition partners would participate in the local body elections and added that the election would be party-less but not non-political. “If you are convinced with the pace of development then you should vote for honest and dedicated people,” he asked the crowd.

Dr Farooq Sattar lashed out at critics of his party and said that they had been propagating that neither the public meeting would be held nor the prime minister would attend it after it was earlier postponed on July 8 for some reasons.

“The local bodies institutions are awaiting return of their real heirs who have been out since 1992,” he said. He informed that the MQM-backed candidates would return to the elected houses to work for their prosperity with the support of central and provincial governments.

MQM zonal in-charge presented Sindhi caps and Ajraks to the prime minister, Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, Liaquat Jatoi and Dr Farooq Sattar.

Earlier, the premier met delegations of the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry and agriculturists.