LAHORE: The Punjab government is spending billions of rupees to change the condition of 16 municipal committees of the province where during the last three weeks, the foundation stones of development projects worth Rs20.37 billion had been laid in Muridke, Kamoke, Jhelum, Wazirabad, Daska, Khanewal, Vehari, Kamalia and Gojra.

Punjab Local Government Minister, Mian Mahmood-ul-Rashid expressed these views while he was presiding over a meeting on Friday. On this occasion, Punjab Municipal Development Fund Company Managing Director Iftikhar Rasool briefed the meeting on World Bank-funded Punjab Cities Programme (PCP) projects.

The Minister told the meeting that in the next few weeks, development projects will start in the remaining seven cities as well. “The mega project was among the first priorities of Imran Khan and Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi,” he added.

He averred that a scheme of Rs3 billion was ready for the construction of Hafizabad’s sewage system, while he has also directed the relevant official to solve the very old sewerage problem in Jhang and Wazirabad on a sustainable basis. He added that the concerned departments should immediately remove the obstacles and complete the PCP schemes in time so that the people could benefit from them.

“A project of Rs630 million was ready for the state-of-the-art water supply for Bahawalnagar city while funds of Rs4 billion had been allocated for Burewala uplift,” he added. On this occasion, Programme Coordinator Ashraf Sohna said that to make solid waste management effective in all the concerned cities, modern machinery had been purchased and provided.

Earlier, Iftikhar Rasool, while giving a briefing to the provincial minister, said the PCP was a programme worth Rs37.33 billion with the support of the World Bank and the Local Government Department. “PC1 of Rs7 billion projects had been approved while PC1 of Rs13 billion projects were in the process of approval,” he added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022