Shahbaz Sharif's Good Governance Outside Lahore

Shahbaz Sharif's Good Governance Outside Lahore 

Ever since the inauguration of the historic rapid bus mass transit system in Lahore, it has been widely acclaimed that the GoP is spending the whole development budget in Lahore. According to the misinformed but well trained propaganda icons, the rest of the Punjab is lagging well behind in basic facilities of modern life. Although, for the number of times it has been properly propagated through the mainstream media that the SS's GoP has spent much  more than what had been spent on Southern Punjab during the previous regimes. This is not only true for southern Punjab but also implies for central as well as the northern Punjab. The fact that all the capital cities around the globe are far ahead of their other local cities, Lahore is given more attention towards development and other activities. This does not mean that all other areas are left without any development. Another point of consideration is the population. Being the host of roughly 10 million humans, Lahore is approx. 3 times larger than Faisalabad, 4 times Rawalpindi, 5 times Multan and Gujranwala, 13 times larger than Bahawalpur and  over 16X larger then Rahimyarkhan. The dominated factor of population is an extremely important component  that counts for the mega development of Lahore. 

Having said that, in this blog post the intention is to nullify the concept that Lahore develops at the cost of development budget allocated to other areas of Punjab.  To prove this myth baseless, the development work outside Lahore during 2008-2013 is discussed here.

Health Sector 

Health being the most basic necessity of life comes under the top priorities in all the welfare states around the globe. CM Shahbaz Sharif, while knowing the importance of state of the art health facilities once stated

“Provision of health‚ transportation‚ educational facilities are my top priorities”, 

But  having only said that isn't enough. For it's only the action that can speak volumes. Although the medical colleges are the fuel for running a good stable health sector, in this blog they are being covered under the cloud of the education sector. Here only new establishments in the health sector are discussed.

We have compiled a list of health centers established worth billion of rupees in areas that are outside Lahore division. These include the following

• State of the art Cardiac Center at Chunian, the first of its kind to be established in Kasur in June 2012
• Fully equipped and functional Thalassemia Center Mianwali, dated July 14,2012
• Children Hospital, Mandibahuddin in Dec 2012
• Establishment of District Headquarter Hospital, Naorwal in March 2013
• Dialysis Centers at THQ Hospital Hazro and Haitian-Jahanian road district Attock in 2013
• Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology, Rawalpindi in 2013
• Commencement of work on Punjab’s first Institute of Urology, Rawalpindi which will have the capacity to conduct kidney transplants and will have the best and latest machinery installed, work has commenced on this mega project and it will cost 3 billion rupees. 

Other then these incentives the issue with the doctors on strike was impeccably solved as a result their salaries were increased many folds and their service structure was approved.  

Education Sector

Education is an issue of prime importance for any country. It helps in prospering through the tough times of the nations. Knowing the importance of education several initiatives were taken that are briefly explained here . I would also like to quote an example of Britian where new special purpose schools were built at the cost of millions to facilitate the young brains. One such is an educational village in Darlington, that was an inspiration of creating a separate chain of institutes for the most dejected faction of our society. 

As we stated earlier a list of major educational and research institutes developed during 08-13 are given below. 

• Danish School in Mianwali inaugurated in 2013
• Government Nawaz Sharif Girls Degree College in Mandibahuddin with 3000 student capacity in Dec 2012
• Special education center in Mandi Yazman, worth 45 Million PKR in Dec 2012 
• Rice Research Institute in Bahawalnager in Oct 2012
• Danish School Chistian and Attock
• Inauguration Of Vocational Training Institute At Bahawalpur Feb 2012
• Inauguration of Vocational Training Institute and Arts Council. in DG Khan Dec 2011
• Commencement of work at the Medical College at DG Khan To Be Constructed At A Cost Of Rs. 818 million.
• Establishment of University in DG Khan, 
• Establishment of Engineering Universities in Multan,
• Establishment of Women University in Multan, Faisalabad, Sialkot and Bahawalpur.  
• Establishment of sub campus UET LHR in Narowal.
• Establishment of Sheikh Kahlifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan vocational training institute in Rahim Yar khan in March 2013.
• Upgradation of Govt. Women college Faisalabad to Women university.
• Commencement of work for the Rehmat Al Alameen Medical College Faisalabad.

Parks and Horticulture, Sport facilities

For the importance of establishing recreational parks can never be suspected, steps were taken on the recommendation of the legislators from local areas. Then I too was astonished to see a lush green grassy football ground in my village 448GB tehsil samundri.  Following are some of the recreational facilities developed across Punjab.

• A family Park established in the populated suburbs of Mandi Bahauddin in Dec 2012
• City Sports Complex Gujranwala, first of its kind in the region to promote sports activities Dec 2012
• A beautiful family amusement facility "Shahbaz Sharif Park" which has been developed on a previously wasted piece of land with a huge swamp in Faisalabad 
• Inauguration of Lyallpur Park, Faisalabad in Nov 2011 
• Formation of Sheikh Kahlifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan public park in Rahim Yar khan in March 2013.

Infrastructure 

Infrastructure is actually the heart of any development activity. Without having a strong infrastructure nations can not progress. Roads connecting the farms to the markets pave the way to economic stability. Communication in this regard is important . Let me quote an urdu proverb that "کتے کے منہ میں ہاتھی کے دانت نہیں اگتے ". Meaning that if you want to have precious items like elephant teeth you can only get it by having elephants. China's present policy is the witness of this proverb. They built the infrastructure and then used that for industrial growth. Here in Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif has been known for the speedy and well planned projects. A list of some important projects is given below

1. Southern bypass which will connect D.G Khan to Muzaffargarh
2. Haroonabad City Road and Bahawalnagar City package that includes the betterment of existing road network in Oct 2012
3. Flyover at 6th Junction along Murree Road Rawalpindi in 2012
4. Commencement of work at Muzaffargarh-Alipur Road which will be a 115 kilometer dual carriageway
5. In July 2012 CM laid the foundation stone of a bridge to be constructed over river Jehlum at a cost of Rs 2 billion.
6. CM laid foundation stones of a sports complex and grain market in Hafizabad in July 2012
7. Foundation stone on 17 kilometer road from Kotli Sattiyan to Dhanda Dec 2012
8. Over-head bridge at Changa Manga Level Crossing at Chunian built at a cost of 443 million rupees, July 8 2012
9. Dual carriage underpass at AbdullahPur Faisalabad.
10. Development works in Okara for upgradation of various link roads.
11. Flyover and underpass at Pir Wadhai, Rawalpindi.

Housing Sector 

In one of my previous blog I mentioned that the concept of MAKAAN was in practice only fulfilled by Mian Nawaz Sharif when in 1986 he passed a bill from PA to grant the ownership to the residents of Katchi bastiees. It was exactly 26 years before the birth of CHNAGE. The same was continued whenever PMLN was given a mandate , be it the land distribution among landless peasants of Sindh or the todays residents of Athena Housing schemes. A glimpse of work in the housing sector is given below.

• Ownership certificates of 5 Marla plots were also given to extremely poor residents of South Punjab who do not own any property and had qualified through a transparent and merit based process. More than 25,000 people in South Punjab will benefit from this 5 Marla Jinnah Abadi Scheme
• CM visited the housing complex being constructed by the Turkish Government for flood affectees is partially complete and consists of 1270 houses in Muzaffargarh
• Certificates of ownership among successful and deserving applicants who had applied for 5 Marla plots In Dist. Tuba teak Singh.
• Construction and Inauguration  of Ganda Khel (IsaKhel), district Mianwali which was destroyed during flood in 2011, dated July 2012
• Labor Colony Muzaffargarh May 2012. 303 houses
• Model Village Constructed in Flood Affected Area of Rakh Jhalwala in Muzaffargarh Dec 2011
• Model Village in Layyah for Flood affectees Nov 2011
• 250 houses for destitute, Shahbaz Nager in Faisalabad in Nov 2011

In the end some work for the improvement of basic living conditions is given that has facilitated the local people a lot. The list is given below

• Clean drinking water supply scheme worth 320 million rupees in Kamalia, Dist Toba Tek Singh on Nov. 2012
• Hafizabad, inaugurated the Land Record Management Information System (LRMIS) Service Center in July 2012
• Improvement and expansion of water supply system project in Faisalabad May 2012
• Sewerage scheme with water treatment plant in Rahim Yar Khan in March 2013.
• Model Police Station Gujranwala, established in Dec 2012, under Police Reforms Program.

Another point of consideration is the population. Being the host of roughly 10 million humans, Lahore is approx. 3 times larger than Faisalabad, 4 times Rawalpindi, 5 times Multan and Gujranwala, 13 times larger than Bahawalpur and  over 16X larger then Rahimyarkhan. The dominated factor of population is an extremely important component  that counts for the mega development of Lahore. 

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