Pakistan’s PM Inaugurates Multi-billion Walton Road Expansion Project

Ahmed Mukhtar Naqshbandi

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif performed the Bab-e-Pakistan monument project’s groundbreaking, which also involved upgrading Walton Road in Lahore.

The road expansion project will cost Rs23 billion. “Today, once again we are at the historic place,” he said in his inaugural address on Saturday morning.

“This is my eighth or tenth visit to this place in the past 20-25 years. This place reminds us of the sacrifices millions of people rendered during the partition of the sub-continent,” he said, adding that hundreds of thousands of people converged on the location as migrants from the neighbouring India

He cited the place’s historical significance and harkened back to the difficulties of partition. He said: “People braved challenges and there is no example in history to compare the sacrifices rendered by people, children and women to move to Pakistan in the hope of living a peaceful and prosperous life.

“Thousands of migrants stayed at this point on Walton Road. There were disturbing tales of how people lost their lives and belongings and wished to reach Pakistan.”

The premier then described the winding journey of the work on the project over the years, from 1997 to the present. “We were supposed to make this venue, in the long run, a place to visit for international and local visitors,” he said.

He said that during his previous tenure, he was told that Rs900 million worth of white granite was planned to be imported from Italy for the monument.

“I asked the reason for it. I was told the creation of Pakistan could not be highlighted without importing that granite. I told him (the contractor), we have financial issues and have several projects to undertake. Should we spend Rs90 crore on this thing? But he had no answer. But he said we have given an order. Bhad ordered that this stone would not be imported. He lodged my complaint with the powers-that-be.”