Peshawar                                                                                                                                                                                               23 May 2018                                                                                                                                                                                         (APP)

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Wednesday said that with a 6 percent GDP growth in fiscal year 2017-18; and fast development of infrastructure and tackling energy issues over the last five years, the PML-N government had established a solid economic base for the country.

“Today Pakistan is presenting itself as a model of high-growth,” the Prime Minister said while addressing the inauguration ceremony of the expansion of Bacha Khan (Peshawar) Airport here.

He said the present government had introduced unprecedented income tax reforms in the budget for FY 2018-19 under which the slab of income tax exemption had been increased from Rs 400,000 to Rs 1,200,000 giving maximum relief to the salaried class.

The Prime Minister, however, added that since no country in the world could progress without a solid tax base, there was a need to raise the number of taxpayers from the current 0.7 million to 7 million to put Pakistan in the list of developed countries.

He said the PML-N government after coming into power in 2013 effectively tackled the economic challenges as well as the energy crisis. “During my last 10 months as prime minister there was hardly a day when I had not inaugurated a development project initiated by the PML-N government,” he remarked.

About the expansion of Bacha Khan Airport, the Prime Minister said as modernization of an existing facility was always considered a hard task, NESPAK deserved appreciation for this difficult work.

He mentioned the recent inauguration of the new Islamabad Airport and said the PML-N government revived the “dead project” and completed it as a world class airport.

The Prime Minister also mentioned the expansion and completion of various airports in the country including Faisalabad, Sialkot, Multan, Quetta and Lahore and said these projects helped enhance air traffic in the country.
Similarly, he said, design of a modern Airport at Gawadar was being also finalized and it would be constructed on the basis of Built Operate and Transfer (BOT) by the Chinese.

The Prime Minister also mentioned the construction of a network of highways and motorways across the country including the 1,700 kilometer Peshawar-Karachi Motorway and said these projects had put the country on the path of economic development and prosperity.