LAHORE: Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Monday inaugurated the Gulab Devi underpass and named it after Abdul Sattar Edhi.

The three-lane underpass will ease the daily movement of 132,000 plus vehicles.

The chief minister said the facility would also benefit the patients of Gulab Devi, Children, Social Security and General hospitals besides accommodating hundreds of thousands citizens in their daily commuting.

Speaking to media, he said the Gulberg to Jail Road (Siddique Trade Centre) flyover had also been named after poet Munir Niazi. He said the Abdul Sattar Edhi underpass had been completed two months ahead of the deadline.

The chief minister announced an elevated expressway project costing Rs50 billion to facilitate Lahorites. Similarly, he said, Rs6.5bn would be spent on the construction of multi-level entry and exit points at Shahdara Mor to resolve traffic congestion.

Meanwhile, he said, more than Rs9.16bn were being spent to complete three major projects in the provincial metropolis. He said an additional lane was being built at the Lahore Bridge near the Children’s Hospital. He said Rs4.9bn were being spent on Data Ganj Bakhsh flyover and Rs2.54bn on Shahkam Chowk flyover.

Alongside, he said, the expansion of Saggian Road would be completed with Rs3.4bn and the Gulberg’s main boulevard to Walton Road, Defence Chowk, would be made a signal-free corridor with Rs3bn. He said an underpass and a flyover at Karim Block in Iqbal Town would be built with a cost of Rs2.9bn.

Mr Buzdar pointed out that the Orange Line Metro Train project was also completed by the incumbent government by arranging necessary funding.

He said the past government conceived projects without caring for the welfare of the people and subsidies to the tune of billions had to be given to run them. He said the public transport scheme should have been finalised after a proper study.

The chief minister said the PTI would perform well in the second phase of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa local body elections as the first phase had been completed.

He said the local elections would be held in Punjab directly and the bill had been presented in the Punjab Assembly. He said public representatives would be empowered and the government would perform well in Punjab.

Answering a question about Nawaz Sharif, the chief minister said anybody could come or go while the law would take its own course and everything would be done in accordance with the law.

“The allies are with the PTI government and there is no need to worry,” he added.

Provincial ministers Murad Raas, Aslam Iqbal, Asad Khokhar, Ejaz Alam, parliamentarians, PTI leaders, SACM Hasaan Khawar, IG police, commissioner and deputy commissioner were present on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2021