Provincial Minister for Local Government Mian Mahmood-ul-Rashid has said that Punjab government was 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 Rs. 20.37 billion had been laid in Muridke, Kamonki, Jhelum, Wazirabad, Daska, Khanewal, Vehari, Kamalia and Gojra. He said in the next few weeks, development projects would be started in the remaining seven cities as well. He was presiding over a meeting here on Friday. Managing Director of Punjab Municipal Development Fund Company Iftikhar Rasool gave a briefing on World Bank funded Punjab Cities Program (PCP) while the Coordinator of PCP, former minister M. Ashraf Sohna was also present on the occasion. Mian Mehmood-ul-Rashid said that the mega project i.e. PCP was among the first priorities of Imran Khan and Chief Minister Ch. Pervaiz Elahi. He said that a scheme of 3 billion was ready for the construction of Hafizabad's sewage system, while he has also directed to solve the very old sewerage problem in Jhang and Wazirabad on sustainable basis. He said that the concerned departments should immediately remove the obstacles and complete the PCP schemes in time so that the people could get benefit from them. He said that a project of Rs. 630 million was ready for the state of the art water supply for Bahawalnagar city while funds of Rs. 4 billion had been allocated for Borewala uplift. Ashraf Sohna said that to make solid waste management effective in all the concerned cities, modern machinery had been purchased and being provided. Earlier, Iftikhar Rasool, while giving a briefing to the provincial minister, said that the program coordinator Ashraf Sohna had accelerated the pace of the program and was providing all possible support for its success. He said that PCP was a program worth Rs. 37.33 billion rupees with the support of the World Bank and Local Government Department. MD further appraised, "PC1 of Rs 7.0 billion projects had been approved while PC1 of Rs. 13 billion projects were in the process of approval. On this occasion, way forward and obstacles in the program and their possible solutions were also discussed.
