Maryam Nawaz inaugurates 60-fleet electric bus service in Multan

MULTAN: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Thursday inaugurated an electric bus service in Multan with an initial fleet of 60 buses, announced another 100 for the city and said her government would expand the clean transport network across the province while highlighting projects in healthcare, housing, agriculture, education and infrastructure.

Addressing a large gathering after the inauguration, Maryam said the Multan service would operate across the city’s routes at a fare of Rs20, with free travel for women, students, people aged over 60 and people with disabilities.

She said the air-conditioned buses had free Wi-Fi, charging ports and CCTV cameras and were equipped with ramps and wheelchairs to facilitate people with disabilities.

Maryam said 160 electric buses would be operating in Multan within the coming weeks, while 1,100 additional buses would arrive in Punjab in the coming weeks.

She said the provincial government was targeting 3,000 electric buses by the end of the 2026-27 financial year and a total of 5,000 buses within three years.

The Punjab government has previously announced plans for 1,500 electric buses in 91 tehsils from January 2027 and a target of 3,000 buses across the province by June 2027. It has said hundreds of buses are already operational in various districts.

Maryam said the buses were particularly important for women and students in remote areas who previously faced difficulties travelling to schools, colleges and universities.

She said women, students and senior citizens would be able to use the service free of charge, while people with disabilities would also travel free and have dedicated facilities.

E-bikes, smog and transport

Maryam said the Punjab government would distribute 100,000 electric motorcycles to students this year, including those studying at private universities and colleges.

She said applications for the scheme would close on October 4 and that around 800,000 registrations had already been made, with about 300,000 applications received.

Under the scheme, she said, female students would not have to make a down payment and would pay an instalment of Rs3,000 a month, while the Punjab government would bear the interest cost.

She said helmets, insurance and two days of driving training would also be provided free of charge.

Maryam linked the electric transport programme to the provincial government’s efforts to reduce air pollution and smog, saying electric buses and motorcycles would contribute to cleaner air.

She also attributed recent increases in petrol and diesel prices to the Iran-Israel conflict, saying she wanted to prevent additional pressure on households.

Multan projects

The chief minister highlighted several projects in Multan, including the recently completed Agriculture Mall, which she said would provide farmers with seeds, fertiliser, pesticides, machinery, tractors and banking facilities under one roof.

She also referred to the Multan-Vehari road, saying the roughly 93-km route had been completed at a cost of about Rs35 billion.

Maryam said the road had previously been known locally as a dangerous or “killer” road because of frequent accidents and claimed the journey between Multan and Vehari had been reduced from around two-and-a-half hours to less than an hour.

She said the road project was part of a broader development programme for South Punjab.

“I have been given two-and-a-half years,” Maryam said, adding that she intended to change the development landscape of Multan and South Punjab.

Cancer treatment expansion

Maryam also highlighted the inauguration of a cancer hospital in Multan, saying patients from outside South Punjab, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan, would also benefit from its facilities.

She said a PET scan machine costing more than Rs1.5 billion had been installed at the facility, describing it as the second such machine in Punjab after one at Lahore’s Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute.

She also spoke about a cancer-treatment machine installed at Lahore’s Mayo Hospital, saying nearly 100 patients had been treated with it free of charge.

Maryam claimed all of those patients had become cancer-free following treatment, and said the government had allocated Rs5 billion to ensure that patients could continue receiving treatment without having to pay.

She said the same technology had now been installed in Multan and that two women had already received treatment.

One of the women, she said, had breast cancer and had undergone the procedure in about 45 minutes. Maryam said she had met the patient before addressing the gathering.

The chief minister announced that her government would establish a state-of-the-art cancer hospital at every divisional headquarters in Punjab within the next 12 months.

Housing and agriculture

Maryam said more than 200,000 houses had been completed under the “Apni Chhat, Apna Ghar” programme during the first two-and-a-half years of her government and that more than 125,000 people had moved into their homes.

She said the programme had been recognised by UN-Habitat and that she wanted to provide homes to 500,000 deserving families over five years.

She also announced financial assistance of up to Rs500,000 for people seeking to strengthen weak roofs and walls of their homes, saying the objective was to prevent deaths and damage during heavy rain and storms.

Under the “Apni Zameen, Apna Rozgar” initiative, Maryam said 30,000 people were being given five-acre plots of state land on 20-year leases without charge, along with Rs50,000 per acre to help them prepare the land and purchase inputs.

She said the beneficiaries would be able to cultivate wheat and other crops and generate an income from the land.

The chief minister also cited the Kisan Card programme, saying one million farmers had received the cards and were being provided interest-free financing before each crop cycle.

Schools and healthcare

Maryam said 300 Nawaz Sharif Schools of Eminence were being established in Punjab, with about 150 already completed and another 150 under construction.

She said two such schools — one for boys and one for girls — would be established in every tehsil.

Referring to one school in Multan, she said enrolment had increased from only a handful of students to about 2,000 after the facility was renovated and upgraded.

She said the schools were providing education without fees and were intended to offer facilities comparable with those available at expensive private institutions.

Maryam also claimed that 10 million people had received free healthcare in Punjab during the previous year and that more than one million people had received free medicines delivered to their homes.

She said the medicines covered chronic illnesses including heart disease, cancer, hepatitis and tuberculosis.

The chief minister highlighted the construction of the Jinnah Cardiology hospital and other health facilities, saying a state-of-the-art cancer hospital would be established at every divisional headquarters.

She said hospitals, clinics on wheels and mobile healthcare facilities were being expanded to reach rural communities.

Roads, water and sanitation

Maryam claimed that 50,000 kilometres of roads had been built in Punjab during the past two years, along with sewage and drainage infrastructure in several cities.

She said underground water-storage facilities had also been constructed to help deal with urban flooding.

The chief minister said the number of Water and Sanitation Agencies had expanded from five districts when she took office to all 40 districts of Punjab.

She said the province had also purchased machinery for individual districts so that equipment would not have to be brought from elsewhere during emergencies such as flooding.

She cited the “Suthra Punjab” programme, under which she said around 200,000 people were involved in cleaning streets, neighbourhoods, villages and cities.

Maryam said the provincial government was also expanding access to clean drinking water, including through WASA vehicles delivering bottled water to areas where residents previously had to carry water over long distances.

Law and order and corruption

Maryam said improving law and order had been among her government’s priorities and credited police and Counter Terrorism Department personnel who had been killed while protecting the public.

She criticised what she described as excessive focus on criminals and said less attention was paid to police and CTD personnel killed in the line of duty.

She also said she had faced threats of criminal cases but would not allow fear of prosecution to prevent her from acting against crime.

On corruption, Maryam said around 600 police officers had recently been arrested or dismissed for allegedly taking bribes.

She said action had also been taken against officials in the revenue and anti-corruption departments and warned that no corrupt official would be allowed to remain involved in government projects.

“Neither will I commit corruption nor will I allow anyone to betray the public trust,” she said.

Attack on Punjab government

Maryam also criticised political opponents, particularly the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, and said much of the criticism directed at her was actually criticism of Punjab’s development.

Referring to a recent visit to Lahore by KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, she mocked the size of the reception for the KP chief minister and said the visit had failed to attract public support.

She said the Punjab government had not taken away the rights of other provinces and argued that Punjab’s hospitals and other facilities were being used by people from across Pakistan.

Her comments came amid an ongoing political dispute between the Punjab and KP governments. The dispute intensified after Maryam had said Punjab faced a greater security threat from neighbouring provinces than from neighbouring countries, prompting the KP Assembly to pass a resolution seeking action against her.

Maryam defends use of Punjab aircraft

Maryam also devoted a significant part of her speech to defending her use of a Punjab government aircraft during a recent trip to London to attend her daughter Mahnoor’s graduation.

She travelled to London earlier this month and returned to Lahore on September 9 after attending the graduation ceremony at SOAS University of London. ([Geo News][3])

The trip triggered criticism from opposition politicians and commentators over the use of the provincial government’s Gulfstream G500 for a family event.

A PTI member of the Punjab Assembly subsequently submitted an adjournment motion seeking a debate over the reported expenditure, citing media reports that put fuel, parking and other related costs at around Rs12.5 million. The motion sought clarification over the legal and financial authority for the aircraft’s use.

Punjab Information Minister Azma Bukhari had said Maryam would bear the expenses of the London trip herself.

Maryam, addressing the issue in Multan, said she had paid **Rs17.5 million from her own pocket** for parking and other aircraft-related charges during her London stay and that the money had not been taken from the public exchequer.

She displayed footage of what she described as the paid bill on her mobile phone but said she was not answerable to YouTubers or vloggers and would provide the documents before the appropriate forum.

“There is a lot of criticism these days about the aircraft,” she said.

Maryam said all four provincial chief ministers had access to government aircraft and questioned why criticism had focused on her.

“Maryam Nawaz’s aircraft does not exist; it belongs to the Punjab government,” she said.

She said she had previously travelled to Japan and London on the aircraft and would continue to use it when required.

Maryam said a chief minister’s most valuable resource was time and argued that travelling by commercial aircraft could have kept her away from Punjab for several additional days.

She also said she continued performing official duties while travelling privately, arguing that a chief minister could not simply disconnect from government affairs while abroad.

“I am not answerable to any vlogger or YouTuber. I am answerable to the people,” she said.

Maryam said she would not remain chief minister forever and that the government aircraft would not become her personal property after she left office.

The controversy over the aircraft began after her London trip, with opposition lawmakers questioning the use of a provincial government aircraft for a private family event. The Punjab government has maintained that Maryam would personally bear the expenses.

The aircraft, a Gulfstream G500 manufactured in 2019, has been reported to have a value of around $38 million to $42 million, or more than Rs10 billion, and its acquisition by the Punjab government has previously attracted scrutiny.

Maryam said criticism of the aircraft was ultimately criticism of Punjab’s development.

She cited the cost of various provincial projects, including housing, electric buses, hospitals, sanitation and roads, and argued that greater attention should be paid to the development programmes rather than the aircraft.

She also defended her decision to travel to London on the government aircraft, saying commercial flights had previously been her normal mode of travel before she became chief minister.

According to Maryam, the return of commercial flights from London was disrupted by a technical problem at the airport, potentially extending travellers’ stays by several days.

She said losing several days of her time was not simply a personal inconvenience because those days could otherwise be spent overseeing government projects.

“My time is not for wasting; I work until midnight and start again in the morning,” she said.

Maryam said she worked while travelling by road, in the aircraft or while abroad, describing her work as a continuation of her public duties rather than a conventional office schedule.

‘I will not remain chief minister forever’

Concluding her speech, Maryam said she had spent the past two-and-a-half years working under the leadership of her father and PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif.

She said the public would ultimately decide whether her performance merited another mandate.

“I will not always remain chief minister,” she said, adding that voters would decide her political future.

She also rejected allegations of corruption and said she had spent public money after considering what she described as the needs and welfare of Punjab’s people.

Maryam said the government had launched more than 100 projects and promised to continue working at the same pace for the remainder of its term.

She ended by thanking the people of Multan for their welcome and saying she hoped the city would continue to prosper.