LAHORE: President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday inaugurated a series of development projects for Punjab to ensure uplift in agriculture, education and industries sectors.

The President, who is on a week-long visit to Punjab to interact with locals and launch key developmental projects, unveiled the plaques at Governor’s House.

The projects include inauguration of Benazir Bhutto Idara-e-Kissan project in Pattoki; the Gujranwala Tools, Dies and Moulds Centre, Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Medical College in Lahore; Neeli Bar Agricultural Research and Training Station, Burewala; and the groundbreaking of Bio-remediation Institute, Lahore Green City.
President Zardari inaugurated the Gujranwala Tools, Dies and Moulds Centre (GTDMC) aimed at meeting needs of the local industry, besides boosting exports of country’s engineering sector.

The centre, second of its kind after Karachi, will enhance indigenous production and reduce imports of about 11 million dollars. The centre set up by the Technology Upgradation and Skills Development Company (TUSDEC) will benefit state-owned industries, including engineering, automobile, and vendor industries.

It will have facilities of designing, development and manufacturing of production tools, dies, moulds, jigs, fixtures, cutting and rapid prototyping aimed at promoting domestic production of dies and moulds.

The GTDMC has been designed to raise skill level of over 550 workers annually and will cater to the needs of industrial clusters in and around Gujranwala, Gujrat, Sialkot,

President Zardari inaugurated the Idara-e-Kissan, a self-supporting organization of small farmers and land less livestock is a self-financed farmer’s organization with sufficient profits to support development service infrastructure to improve livestock production.

Idara-e-Kissan, the vertically integrated cooperative in dairy sector, will procure fresh milk, process it and use the profits earned in urban milk product markets to provide development services to member farmers.

President Zardari flanked by UAE ambassador Ali Saif Sultan Al Awani inaugurated the undergraduate Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Medical College at Shaikh Zayed Medical Complex, Lahore.

The college will offer 100 medical seats on an all-Pakistan, open merit and self-finance basis. The president also performed the ground-breaking of Lahore Green City project aimed at facilitating the common people.

Governor Punjab Salman Taseer, Senior Minister Raja Riaz, Punjab cabinet members, PPP Punjab president Rana Aftab Ahmed Khan, PPP city president Asgher Gujjar, office bearers of the party and workers were also present on the occasion.