Islamabad, Apr 18 (IANS): 18 (IANS) Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday inaugurated the Orange Line Metro Bus service, just days after taking charge as the new premier, media reports said.

Sharif had ordered to resume work on this project right after assuming the office of Prime Minister, Geo TV reported.

"The former Prime Minister is panicking because I have been elected as the representative. I will work on a pace I am used to," Sharif said while addressing the inauguration ceremony here.

"You [Imran Khan] may be panicked due to my speed of work, but the people have stopped panicking," he said.

The Prime Minister regretted the four years of delay in making the project, launched by the PML-N government under Nawaz Sharif in 2017, operational.

He said that the project was started in 2017 and it had to be made operational by 2018, but the work on it came to a halt when the PML-N's rule ended.

Taking a jibe at the erstwhile PTI government, the premier said that the lawyers of the then ruling party caused the delay, but couldn't prove a single penny of corruption in court.

Sharif said that earlier, the country's defence expenditures used to be met by the national income, but during PTI's rule, these expenses were met through loans.

"We meet the expenses of welfare and development projects with loans," he said, Geo News reported.

"The expenditure of this project was brought down to Rs 12 billion from Rs 16 billion," Sharif said, adding that everything was available, including funds, and that the only thing lacking was the spirit to work and there was no other reason for the delay in completion of the project.