RAWALPINDI: Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Tuesday said that he would appear before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to present proof of kickbacks in the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) scam against former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi after getting permission from Prime Minister Imran Khan.

“Prime Minister Imran Khan gave a go-ahead to me and I will present all the proof to NAB on March 15,” he said to newsmen while visiting Mother and Child Hospital near Eidgah.

Answering a query about Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zar­dari’s meeting with Pak­istan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif in Kot Lakhpat jail, the railways minister said it would not create any problem for the Imran Khan-led government. “All the NAB affected or ‘sister organisations of corruption’ are gathering and we have no fear of their alliance,” he said.

The minister said the government would lay the foundation stone of Leh Nullah Expressway as soon as all the arrangements were finalised to start its construction. He said the cost of the project had increased from Rs18 billion to Rs80 billion due to negligence of the PML-N government.

He said the project would be constructed on a Build-Operate-Transfer basis. He said the expressway would start from the Soan Bridge instead of Ammar Chowk in Chaklala to facilitate maximum population.

He claimed the project would change the fate of residents living along the Lai Nullah as they would be allowed to construct commercial buildings along the road.

Responding to a query about his visit to Iran, Mr Ahmed said that he gave the letters of the president and the prime minister to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and tried his level best to clear misunderstandings.

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2019