CM for including professionals in LWMC Board

LAHORE:Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has directed LWMC and other line departments that professionals should be included in the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) Board and it should move forward as a vibrant and active entity.

The chief minister was presiding over a meeting at his office here Thursday in which future model of cleanliness for Lahore as well as different matters pertaining to LWMC came under discussion. The meeting decided to increase the organisational capacity of LWMC for improving cleanliness system of the provincial metropolis.

Usman Buzdar directed that required steps should be taken to improve LWMC capacity along with improving its financial management. Similarly unnecessary expenditures should be curtailed and performance should be improved.

Lahore should be divided into different zones and work should be immediately started to improve the cleanliness system. The solid waste management system should be better than the past after the culmination of the contract with the foreign company, he added.

The LWMC and other line departments should be fully prepared in the wake of the emerging situation. No complaint should arise with regard to cleanliness, he said. Usman Buzdar said that steps relating to the cleanliness of the city should be adopted under rules and regulations and added that inquiries would be held where discrepancies and irregularities had taken place. Nation’s money will not be allowed to be wasted and the company will have to deliver at any cost, he asserted.

The chief minister was briefed that city’s cleanliness agreement with the foreign company would be ended next year and the LWMC board had approved the appointment of transaction adviser. Secretary Local Government gave a briefing about the new cleanliness model of the city.

Tourism policy: Usman Buzdar on Thursday said that a new tourism policy had been prepared besides giving the tourism sector a status of an industry. In a message, issued here in connection with the World Tourism Day, he said unfortunately betterment of tourist spots was ignored in the past but tourism sector was among the priorities of the PTI government.

He said Pakistan had great tourism potential and effective measures had been adopted to provide the best facilities to tourists, along with improving the tourist-spots. The chief minister said the number of international tourists had increased due to improvement in law and order in the country, adding that the positive face of Pakistan would be projected across the world by promoting tourism.

Usman Buzdar said that the Punjab government was working to facilitate tourists and the government buildings having historical background were being restored. He said that 177 rest houses had been opened for public in Punjab and new tourist spots were being developed in the province, which would create new earning opportunities for the local population.