Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday revealed that Pakistan had signed a deal with Qatar, wherein the latter will provide Pakistan three million tons of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) for 10 years.
Prime Minister Imran Khan witnessed the signing of the agreement that took place in the federal capital at the PM House.
Federal Minister for Energy Omar Ayub Khan and Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi inked the agreement. Qatar’s Minister al-Kaabi termed as “historic” the agreement with Pakistan and expressed confidence that it would open up new vistas of development.
The prime minister informed that Pakistan will save $300mn each year as a result of the deal. “And in 10 years’ time, Pakistan will save $3bn,” he added.
He highlighted that these issues the country was facing where inherited from previous regimes.
“When a difficult time comes upon the nation, a country has to think of ‘out-of-the-box’ solutions,” he said during a ceremony in Lahore wherein the premier laid the foundation-stone of the country’s first-ever Central Business District (CBD), a commercial hub aimed at ensuring ease-of-doing-business.
The concept will plan activities in accordance with the market requirements and as per the unique dynamics of each district.
Addressing at the foundation-laying ceremony, the prime minister said the project would touch the trading volume of Rs 6,000 billion with its first phase of Commercial and Business Hub to generate activities worth Rs 1,300 billion.
“With huge tenders involved, this project will witness a major take-off in a short span of time and also transform Lahore into a modern city,” he said.
Prime Minister Imran said the environment-friendly and urban generation project will be carried out on vertical principles with the construction of high-rise buildings.
He regretted that earlier, lack of planning resulted in a haphazard expansion of big cities like Lahore and Karachi that became unmanageable with time.
He stressed that vertical construction was the effective-most solution for the management of big cities in order to accommodate the maximum population.
Imran Khan said the CBD would ensure environment-friendly policies with its unique features of botanical gardens and green spaces. He further said that in the first phase, the project will generate Rs1,300 billion, through which the government will receive Rs250 billion in taxes.
The prime minister said when the Walton airport is de-notified as per the project’s plan, tall buildings can be constructed in Gulberg and Ferozepur road.
The premier underscored that he was the biggest supporter of preservation and conservation of the environment and had always emphasized considering the environmental aspect while carrying out any project.
He pointed out that the apathy of previous governments inflicted huge damage to the environmental conditions of urban cities in particular.
“The entire city’s sewerage is going in River Ravi,” he said. “This sewerage is going down the river. A lot of people drink water from the rivers,” he said, adding that even the water table of Lahore was declining.
Imran Khan said for the first time, the government introduced policies to provide low-cost housing and encouraged banks to offer mortgage facility to facilitate the common man.
The Naya Pakistan Housing, he said, was a significant project for the uplift of low-income groups who struggled hard to own a residential place.
He said for six consecutive months, Pakistan’s current account remained in surplus and acknowledged the contribution of overseas Pakistanis in this regard.
“Our textile exports are also witnessing an increase and new industries are being set up across the country,” said the premier while giving an example of the economy’s condition.
The prime minister lauded the efforts of the Punjab chief minister for maintaining a faster pace of development projects in the province.
