This is apropos a Business Recorder news item “Punjab construction projects: Activities ‘worth’ Rs1.77trn to be generated, PM told” carried by the newspaper on Friday. According to which, Prime Minister Imran Khan told that the investment of Rs353.43 billion in the construction sector projects in Punjab would generate economic activities worth Rs1,767.15 billion and create 315,678 job opportunities.

There is no denying that construction activities play a meaningful role in overall efforts aimed at fuelling economy. His is the right approach to the situation. The prime minister appears to have taken a leaf out of China’s situation. Arguably, China, for example, used more cement in less than one decade of the 21st century than the US used in the entire 20th century.

Wasim Hayat (Islamabad)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021