Sharif family projects scattered across uplift plan

LAHORE: Punjab's proposed Annual Development Programme (ADP) for fiscal year 2026-27 includes several major schemes named after senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz figures and members of the Sharif family, even as the province has reduced its overall development outlay for the coming year.

The proposed ADP stands at Rs752 billion, down from Rs1.24 trillion in FY2025-26. Despite that cut, some of the programme's biggest projects are linked to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, former first lady Kulsoom Nawaz and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, according to budget details reported by Express Tribune.

The largest of these is the proposed Nawaz Sharif Medical District in Lahore, a healthcare scheme estimated to cost Rs169 billion. The government has included Rs2 billion for the project in the next fiscal year. The health sector component of the plan also features the Nawaz Sharif Institute of Cancer Treatment and Research in Lahore with an estimated cost of Rs20 billion.

Another healthcare project, the Kulsoom Nawaz Cancer Hospital in Dera Ghazi Khan, has been projected at Rs15.2 billion and assigned Rs800 million for FY2026-27. In the education sector, the provincial government has also proposed establishing Mian Nawaz Sharif Engineering and Technology University in Kasur.