Fact-check: Rival’s claim incorrect, PTI did launch projects during term

Politician Maryam Nawaz Sharif has accused her political rival, Imran Khan, of not completing a single development and infrastructure project during his over three and a half years term.

The claim is incorrect.

Claim

On February 14, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, the senior vice president of the ruling-Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), alleged in a media talk that former prime minister Imran Khan did not roll out even one project for the public’s benefit, when he was in power.

“You [Imran Khan] did not complete any project during your term,” Sharif said, “No college, university, hospital, motorway, expressway, electricity or CPEC project was established during your term. Show us anything.”

Fact

The statement is factually incorrect.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) governments, both in the center and in the provinces, did launch and complete several public infrastructure projects.

Khan’s party, the PTI, was in control of the federal government from August 2018 to April 2022. It was in power in the Punjab province during the same period and then it retook office, forming a coalition government, from July 2022 to January 2023.

It governed the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from 2013 to January 2023.

Education

In the education sector, some of the projects the PTI-led government completed include laying the foundation stone for the Baba Guru Nanak University in 2019, in Punjab’s Nankana district, as per the university’s website.

The university opened for admissions in November 2022, a member of the admission cell of the university told Geo Fact Check, over the phone.

Construction for the Kohsar University in Murree, Punjab, began in 2020, and was completed in March 2021, said Dr Mohsin Hassan, the spokesperson of the university.

Also in Punjab the Layyah University, in the Layyah district, was upgraded from a sub-campus to a full-fledged university after a bill was passed by the Punjab Assembly in November 2022.

Separately, the Government College of Technology in Punjab’s Dera Ghazi Khan was upgraded to the Mir Chakar Khan Rind University in 2019.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the PTI initiated work on the Nowshera Medical College in Nowshera in 2014, which was inaugurated in early 2017. While work on the Gajju Khan Medical College in Swabi began in 2014 and it enrolled its first batch of students in 2017.

Health

In the health sector, one of the hospitals the PTI government established was a 20-bed hospital in Latifal, in Punjab’s Chakwal district.

Construction on the hospital began on December 29, 2020, and it was inaugurated on January 22, 2023, Dr Abdul Razzaq, the chief executive officer health in Chakwal, told Geo Fact Check.

Roads

When it came to thoroughfares, the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa approved the construction for a 81-kilometers Swat Expressway in 2014. The expressway opened to traffic in 2019.

Other similar projects include two underpasses and two flyovers in Lahore, Punjab, to name a few.

The Sheranwala overhead bridge was initiated in 2021 and opened for traffic in early 2022, Iqrar Hussain, an official at the Lahore Development Authority told Geo Fact Check.

While the Shahkam Chowk flyover was completed within ten months in 2021.

On the other hand, the Firdous Market underpass was opened for traffic in November 2020, after six months of construction, and the Gulab Devi underpass was constructed within one year in 2021.

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