ISLAMABAD: The ground-breaking of Diamer-Bhasha Dam would be performed by end of the current calendar year.
This was stated by Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal addressing the participants of National Management Course (NMC). He said that water scarcity was a big issue for Pakistan and the government is striving to address the issue on priority basis.
“Today, Pakistan has right economic orientation to register higher economic growth for producing surplus wealth and its equitable distribution to end the poverty in the country. For achieving further economic growth, we need to become a competitive economy by excelling in productivity, quality and innovation,” he said.
About human resource development, the minister pointed out that federal government now controlled only higher education after social sectors were devolved to provinces following 18th Amendment.
“We have increased higher education budget from Rs 48 billion to Rs 78 billion in the last two years and we are working on setting up universities campuses at district levels. Pakistan is also negotiating with the US to train 10,000 PhD scholars during next 10 years”.
Talking about China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Ahsan said this trans-regional project would create larger West-Asia economic block through improved connectivity in the region. “Pakistan lies at the confluence of three engines of growth – South Asia, Central Asia and China – and CPEC would connect these three engines.”
