ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain Thursday said that media should show responsibility on national issues as foreign media wanted to sabotage the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.
Talking to Media he said the daily Financial Times had created controversies and speculations over the CPEC project.
The government had no intention to increase the tariff of gas and taxes, he said and added the government did not want to burden the salaried persons, farmers, and laborers.
He said the Governor houses in Sindh, Punjab, and Nathiagali had been opened for general public.
To a question, he said that through the austerity drive around Rs 10 billion would be saved annually by the government and the amount would be spent on public welfare.
To a question on the first 100 days performance of the government, Fawad said that government had constituted around 14 task forces and all of them had started work. A task force has started work to fetch money sent abroad illegally, he said and added the government would pay 20% of the amount to those who would help the government in identifying the corrupt people.
He said the government had planted 100,000 trees across the country within three weeks. To a query, the minister said that Rawalpindi-Islamabad metro bus project was completed at a cost of Rs 45 billion. This service earns just Rs 660 million and the Punjab government pays Rs two billion subsidies annually to run that project.
“In a country where people are crying for clean drinking water, health and education facilities, we are paying Rs 8 billion subsidy just to run three metro bus projects. Therefore, the cabinet has decided to hold an audit of these projects,” the minister stated.
About Peshawar metro bus project, he said the project’s estimated cost was Rs 67 billion out of which Rs 41 billion had been spent so far. He said that there was no plan to pay the subsidy to run this project as its buses had been purchased at a cost of Rs 2 billion, whereas in Punjab buses had been hired.
Asian Development Bank was supporting the Peshawar Metro bus project and there was no need for giving subsidy on the Metro Bus. Peshawar Metro Bus fare would be Rs 55 per person against Punjab Metro Bus fare of Rs 20. The Punjab government would take hard decisions regarding subsidies in various sectors, the minister added.