Minister orders timely provision of municipal services in 16 cities

LAHORE:Punjab Local Government Minister Zeeshan Rafiq has directed the officers concerned to complete the project of providing municipal services in 16 cities of the province in a timely manner with the support of World Bank. He said that the funds of Rs51 billion have been released for the project. He was presiding over a review meeting held at the Punjab Municipal Development Fund Development Company (PMDFC) office on Friday.

Secretary Local Govt Shakeel Ahmed Mian, Secretary Local Govt Board Rizwan Nazir were also present in the meeting. PMDFC’s MD Syed Zahid Aziz briefed the provincial minister about the Punjab Cities Programme (PCP).

Zeeshan Rafiq expressed his satisfaction over the fact that the project of providing municipal services in 16 cities of Punjab is in progress under which sewerage, storm water drainage, water supply, installation of street lights and rehabilitation of parks, bus stands and roads schemes were being prepared. “Under the PCP, master planning has been done for Hafizabad, Jhelum, Daska, Kamonke, Vehari, Muridke, Wazirabad, Gojra, Bahawalnagar, Kot Addu and Khanewal. Burewala, Okara, Kamalia and Jhang are also included in the same project”, he said.

The provincial minister expressed the hope that the PCP will be completed during the current year. “Providing quality municipal services to citizens is the mission of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. The scope of the programme will be extended to other cities in the next phase”, he figured out.

He added that the Punjab government wants to benefit as many people as possible from the limited available resources. “For this, PMDFC has to accelerate its pace”, he remarked. He directed to pay special attention to master planning keeping in mind the challenges being faced. “A request has been forwarded to the Punjab Public Service Commission for the

recruitment of municipal officers on vacant posts. “The recruitment process will be completed soon”, he hoped.

The minister directed that the selection of consultant for PCP should be done in a transparent manner. “PMDFC should also take the parliamentarians of the 16 cities into confidence as it is difficult to achieve goals without consulting the local elected representatives”, he concluded.