By Ali Imran
RAWALPINDI: Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed has said that an art of the facilities well equipped Railways university will soon be established at Rawalpindi in cooperation with the Chinese government.
Addressing a ground breaking ceremony of a quad-storey hostel block for Rawalpindi women university to be completed with an estimated cost of Rs 70 million, the minister said that Rawalpindi will soon become a unique city having three women universities.
The minister said that setting up of another women university in Rawalpindi was a difficult task but hectic efforts were made for sixth road university. He said nobody could defeat daughters of Rawalpindi because they are getting higher education from the well equipped colleges and universities set up by government.
Sheikh Rasheed said Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan and CM Sardar Usman Buzdar were showing keen interest in bringing change in health and education sectors.
He said, “We have inaugurated Government Postgraduate College for Women, Railway Station Road last week. The college was completed at a cost of Rs100 million.â€
He expressed the hope that Rawalpindi city would get two more women colleges soon.
Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said that city would have a state-of-the-art International Railway University which would be biggest Railway University in the subcontinent.
The Railway University would be established in cooperation with China, he said.
He said the land for the University would be provided by the Pakistan Railways which would be constructed with the investment of China. He said he had started the public service journey by establishing schools, colleges, and universities particularly in middle-class areas in Rawalpindi.
“When we started to focus education field, the city was at 27th position in Punjab, but, now we are at first position in women education,†he added. He said, efforts would be made for up-gradation of the Government Viqar un-Nisa Postgraduate College to the status of university. Sheikh Rasheed said that the tender for Main Line-1 (ML-1) Railway project would be issued this month added that over 150 year old railway tracks would be changed under ML-1 project which were laid in 1886.
He said, “The Railways infrastructure would be upgraded under the Main Line-1 (ML-1) project which would significantly reduce the travel time between Rawalpindi and Karachi,†he added. He also thanked the Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief of Army Staff, General Qamar Javed Bajwa for taking keen interest in ML-1 project which would change fate of the country.
He informed that the ML-1 project would be completed at a cost of US$6.8 billion and its tender would be issued this month or first week of September. The Minister said Rs 70 billion, Leh Expressway project would also be constructed by the incumbent government, he said adding, the project had Rs 26 billion total cost when conceived but unfortunately, it could not be executed for over 12 years.
He thanked Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar for giving priority to the project. The Minister informed that a ‘Mother and Child Hospital’ project was being completed in Rawalpindi at a cost of Rs 6 billion, adding, the hospital would have 14 state-of-the-art operation theaters where almost 60 to 70 percent construction work had been completed, he informed.
He said, “We are going to spent Rs 1.25 billion on Civil Hospital, Raza Bazar. It would be fully upgraded and the project would be launched this month. We will try to demolish the Roze Cinema so that OPD and Emergency of the hospital could be constructed there. We have arranged Rs 400 million grant for up-gradation of the hospital. Civil Hospital and Benazir Bhutto Hospital will be upgraded†, he said.
He said that solid steps being taken to resolve basic issues regarding the supply of clean drinking water, provision of standard education, and improved healthcare facilities for which maximum resources were being utilized.
