Malik, most of these projects started during Nawaz Sharif's time, and even if they didnt begin then, the visualization of these projects are from that era...
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*Originally posted by Malik73: *
But Musharraf and the successor government have pursued Pakistan-centric policies especially in the development field, with Gwadur Port, Makran Coastal Highway, the Lyari Bypass, Northern bypasss (M-10), the Pindi Bhattian-Faisalabad motorway (M-3) and the upgrading of the Indus Highway and Pakistan Raliways testimony to some of the many developmental achievments of the last four years.
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^ Factually Sialkot has declined in district wise standings over the last 20 years, it was considered one of the most developed districts in Punjab at one time. and zaavia, Musharraf cleaned up Pakistan Railways, no previous government had achieved that.
At the moment, if you follow Musharraf closely, it seems that even he has become Punjab centric, hence his statements on Kalabagh Dam, and the Thal Canal, although it could spiral a dangerous situation in the remaining three provinces if the projects do go ahead...
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yara supporting Kalabagh Dam doesn't make you Punjab centric niether does opposing it, makes you a Punjab hater. There needs to be a consensus developed before we move ahead and that's basically what Musharraf was talking about.
The Sharifs were very Lahore centric..the reality is that during the upheavel in Karachi it was the Sharif brothers that pushed the industrial development near Lahore. The Punjabi businessmen were lured from Karachi with tax free incentives and a wink in the eye for future support. I think Akif and Malik have given other examples. If you read the article, it how irrefutable evidence of their Lahori Kashmiri Mafia's control over the country.
Admiring people shouldn't make us biased about them. I admire the job that the President is doing and rest assured that I would be the first to oppose him if Pakistan was heading in the wrong direction. It isn't about how much my district in Attock develops or whether person X is in charge, its about the development in the ENTIRE nation. NS makes me espicially angry because he made Punjabis look like fools while his group of yes men benefitted.
^ RF good point about kalabagh dam. I dont see how supporting it makes on punjab centric.
To his credit Nawaz has started some really good projects, some were abused liek hell by ppl (e.g. yellow cab scheme) and others like infrastructure related projects went ahead and did well.
I still recall going to Karachi after Nawaaz was in power and comparing it to back in BB's days and it was safer, cleaner, and more progressive. But like many other people I think he started putting his interests ahead of the country interests and more than him, the people who surrounded him screwed him over.
Excellent points. Throughout this thread I and others have made the point how before the Musharraf government the politcians that ruled for 11 years repeatedly delayed national construction projects due to their own political jealousies and vedetta’s and concentrated on building up their own territorial fiefdoms, while neglecting the development of the wider nation.
General Musharraf and the successor government have broken that vicious cycle, and managed to start construction of, and even complete major development projects across Pakistan within the last four years. I have given numerous examples of this before, and here is more details on the Lyari Express and Northern Bypass in Karachi, orginally conceived in 1980, yet even after a dozen or more governments and 22 years only got started in 2002 under the Musharraf government. This article expounds on the main reason…
Karachi, the industrial and commercial capital of Pakistan, has finally got the long awaited projects i.e. Lyari Expressway and Northern Bypass which are bound to bring visible changes in the socio-economic life of this metropolitan. President Pervez Musharraf has already performed the groundbreaking ceremony of the twin projects recently and the two projects are scheduled to complete in next 30 months at an estimated cost of Rs 8-10 billion. Actually, the Northern Bypass and Southern Bypass were the two projects announced by the previous governments over decades ago. However, the projects were never allowed to come on the ground as the announcement for construction of the projects were meant for public consumption only to gain cheap and temporary political gains by the so-called political or democratic governments. Southern Bypass project was literally scrapped when highly powerful segment of the society opposed the project on the pretext that the traffic noise of the road will disturb their peace and perfect living standards. While the Northern Bypass lying pending in the files since the date of announcement due to non-approval of the budget for the project.
IMPACT
While rating this port city in terms of environment conditions, some international rating companies have declared Karachi as one of the most polluted city of the world obviously due to poor traffic management. The entire area right from Keamari Oil and port Terminals to Sohrab Goth the exit point of the city is enveloped by the smoke and noise making vehicles causing life hazards for the people living here. Apart from excessive pollution, the heavy trawlers, containers, oil tankers etc. reduce the road occupancy for other vehicles passing through the main and the only thoroughfare of the city. After completion of the Northern Bypass, the entire heavy traffic meant for the upcountry will move outside the city which hopefully will give a much cleaner and pleasant environment to the passersby. Apart from this social impact, the Northern Bypass passing from the outskirts of the industrial areas of Mauripur, Hawks Bay, Shershah and Site Industrial area and North Karachi would certainly bring a boom in industrial investment in these areas which are lying deserted since the inception of this country. This road is certainly going to add a new colour in the economic scenario of the city. Presently, people of Karachi have only one access for reaching the Jinnah Terminal Airport through Shahrahe Faisal. People face great hardships in catching their flight in case of an eventuality like strikes, blockade due to disturbance or due to movement of dignitaries. Since the Northern Bypass has been connected with the Super Highway, it will provide another effective option for the people to reach the airport.
On the occasion of groundbreaking ceremony, President said that construction of Northern Bypass will help carry the entire heavy traffic from port areas to upcountry without entering the city via superhighway, thus saving our roads from overloading and damage as well as also overcoming the heavy congestion. He said the expressway would add to the beauty of the city as it will be passing on both sides of Lyari River and will serve as Canal Bank Road in Lahore. He said that a major advantage to be achieved from this project would be that people who are living under unhygienic conditions in hutment and in gutter water will have a decent living for themselves as some 14000 families will be allotted plots of 80 sq. yards. They would also be provided cash of Rs 50,000 for construction of houses. With the progress achieved in the communication sector, not only all parts of the country will be integrated with each other within next 5 years but the country will also be integrated with the Central Asian States. President while visualizing the Pakistan’s future in the communication sector, pointed out that in the next three to four years the coastal highway would be completed, all roads in Northern Areas constructed linking Chitral, Hunza, Kaghan, Gilgit, Skardu valleys with each other.
By the time the Northern Bypass would also have been completed and linked with the coastal highway and on to the Indus highway, besides completion of Lyari Expressway, M-1 from Peshawar to Pindi, M-3 from Lahore to Faisalabad and M-4 from Faisalabad to Multan. President said that during the next 3-4 years this whole communication network would be ready and thus the whole country will be having an integrated network of roads making Pakistan an integrated country. He said that in the 3-4 years period Pakistan will have three highways, the National Highway, the existing G.T Road and the Indus Highway and said when this whole network will be completed; there shall be the real integration of Pakistan. Highlighting the strategic importance of Pakistan, the President made a reference to a full page article on Gwadar which was published in top Indian magazine “India Today” and said it reflected the perturbness with regard to the development of Gwadar. He said with regional communication and internal communication coupled with rail and road linkages, Pakistan is set to embark upon a booming era of progress and development within the next 3-4 years.
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*Originally posted by zaavia: *
Malik, most of these projects started during Nawaz Sharif's time, and even if they didnt begin then, the visualization of these projects are from that era...
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Do you know why musharraf has just all of a sudden started insisting on this kalabagh issue? Its just to divert peoples attention away from the LFO issue, but I personally hope he gets that dam made.
Thats not really true. Who was the man behind the Chamber in Sialkot? It was Sheikh Ijaz Ahmed (former MP of PML(N)). All my relatives in Sialkot are in the sporting business, and all of them are still die-hard supporters of the PML(N) as they say it helped them boast their business. This business, unlike other businesses in Pakistan is not going down.
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All your relatives in Sialkot may be in the sporting business, but all sporting business owners in Sialkot arent your relatives:) A lot of such businesses are suffering because of a variety of issues.
Sheikh Ijaz was involved in the sports goods industry, yes, but I wouldnt say he was 'behind' the Chamber. He did not manage a single penny in govt support for the city. The chamber funded the construction of the entire circular road and airport out of its own pocket. It wasnt until after Musharraf took over that the federal govt agreed to fund 50% of the expenses.
All your relatives in Sialkot may be in the sporting business, but all sporting business owners in Sialkot arent your relatives:) A lot of such businesses are suffering because of a variety of issues.
Sheikh Ijaz was involved in the sports goods industry, yes, but I wouldnt say he was 'behind' the Chamber. He did not manage a single penny in govt support for the city. The chamber funded the construction of the entire circular road and airport out of its own pocket. It wasnt until after Musharraf took over that the federal govt agreed to fund 50% of the expenses.
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Akif Sahib, if the business was sufferring, the chamber would not have been in a position to undertake these massive projects. Oh, as much as I hate to say it, Sheikh Ijaz is also a close relative of mine, but I do admit, he was extremely corrupt and power hungry, but he was behind the chamber, nothing could be signed without his approval.
It's great that the Multan-faisalabad section will soon be started. I think they should build one mortorway every other year, and within the next ten years, they should be able to cover all arterial routes. Especially, with the completion of the Gwadar port, the network should be extended towards South-West. That in effect could become a serious catalyst for growth, when you have free movement of goods and vehicles from ports to the distant corners of the country..there should be major investment from the private sector at the same time to boost related infrastructure, such as the CNG stations, restaurants, and rest areas..
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*Originally posted by outlaw: *
infrastructure, such as the CNG stations, restaurants, and rest areas..
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Excellent point. CNG stations would do great, but then again, rest areas should not be made like they were with the lahore-islamabad motorway. For you living abroad Rs. 25 may not be much for a cup of tea, but for Pakistani income earners, its ridiculous. That explains why most of them were deserted. There should be some better planning.
Why dont they extend the Islamabad Lahore Motorway all the way to Karachi? Seems to make sense to me. Is there any quality highway thats safe and efficient coneecting Karachi and the rest of Sindh to the Punjab?
Although, it seems they almost completely overlooked Balochistan. I mean, there should definently be a Highway linking Peshawar and Queta, and Queta to the National grid... a decent highway conecting Baloch villages with the main four cities of Karachi, Queta, Lahore and Peshawar would be imensly useful, particularly for Balochi farm exporters. Any reason why Baloch isnt included?
Rubbish. They have not overlooked Balochistan. In fact a record amount of development seems to be directed in Balochistan these days, and if you look at the map of motorways you will see the M8 Motorway planned from the middle of Sindh right through the middle of Balochistan right down to Gwadur. Then there is the 700 kilometre long Makran Coastal Highway linking Gwadar with Karachi via Pasni-Ormara-Liari along the entire Makran coast of Balochistan. Plus if you are aware of the relevance of Gwadur i.e. especially in promoting trade and transportation links with the Central Asian Republics, then you will know that there will be major road construction from the north of Pakistan down to Balochistan to make all this possible, and we are receiving funding in this regard…ADB to finance Balochistan - Central Asian republics road links](http://lists.isb.sdnpk.org/pipermail/econo-list/2003-January/003376.html)
^I think he's referring to quetta specifically and not Baluchistan as a whole. I don't get why they haven't constructed a Peshawar to Quetta highway, those areas are geographically and ethnically linked and deserve some form of communication. the conditions of roads are so bad in that belt that Frontier Constabulory Officers have to be given extra leave because of the condition of the roads.
The roads between Quetta and Peshawar are also quite dangerous from what I hear. Regardless of the measures taken, safety will always be an issue i think, unless they build a gated motorway.
The worst part is that majority of Baloch villages including Quetta are far from the other major cities, which really hurts their economy. So save for the lower southern end of Baloch, the major areas are left isolated.
I think this again is a case of self intrest over the intrest of the province. I suppose they dont see the linking of Quetta to the grid as being of any use.
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*Originally posted by Zakk: *
^I think he's referring to quetta specifically and not Baluchistan as a whole. I don't get why they haven't constructed a Peshawar to Quetta highway, those areas are geographically and ethnically linked and deserve some form of communication. the conditions of roads are so bad in that belt that Frontier Constabulory Officers have to be given extra leave because of the condition of the roads.
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And im sure once they are linked, economic activity between the two province and two cities can double.