LAHORE: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, while presiding over a meeting to review progress of the work on Knowledge Park, has announced to allocate Rs21 billion for the project, which would be released during a three-year period.
Shahbaz said a plan had been evolved for completion of work on the project. He directed the authorities concerned to ensure timely completion of planning and designing work so that construction could begin on schedule. Shahbaz said merit would be the only criterion for admission to universities set up at the Knowledge Park. He said the project would help promote quality of education in sciences, information technology and other modern branches of knowledge.
He said he believed it was impossible to attain social and economic development without promotion of education. He said higher allocation of resources to promotion of education was a feature common to developed countries of the world.
Earlier, the meeting discussed various proposals regarding the project. Education Minister Rana Mashhood Ahmed, the chairmen of the Planning and Development Board and the Punjab Textbook Board and vice chancellors of public universities were present on the occasion.
Separately, Shahbaz and Department for International Development (DFID) representative Ben French agreed to expand the scope of various social sector programmes underway in the province with DFID assistance.
Shahbaz said programmes in education, health and skill development sectors were yielding positive results. He said there had been considerable improvement in these sectors over the past few years. Finance Minister Ayesha Ghaus Pasha was also present on the occasion.
