Lahore : Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif chaired a meeting to review in detail progress of Punjab Development Program, Lahore Development Program, Model Village Program, working of PHAs, clean water and rural road projects. She directed the authorities concerned to accelerate development of cities and villages across Punjab, as autonomy, beauty, model villages, bright streets, clean water, clean canals, strong roads and modern sewage is the new life of modern Punjab. Every development project of Punjab will be completed on time, a live dashboard will be established, and she will herself closely monitor the progress on daily basis. She also directed them to ensure safety and convenience of people, besides making sure that sewer lines should be laid in green belts instead of roads to ensure beauty. She highlighted that manholes in Punjab will be on the edges, roads will be safe and every journey will be easy. She underscored that Hobes sewer pipes, with a 100-year guarantee, will be installed for a strong and clean Punjab. She directed the relevant authorities to complete Punjab Development Project in 07 cities by April.
Authorities concerned briefed Chief Minister Punjab that work has begun on Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s Model Village Project, under which 224 villages of Punjab are rapidly moving towards becoming exemplary. They said that In Phase-I, every street in 469 villages of Punjab will be made beautiful, bright and safe by ensuring availability of water supply, drainage, children’s park, footpath and street lights. They added that Phase-I of Lahore Development Project has been completed, while Phase-II will be completed by April 30. They apprised Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif that New PHAs have been established in 11 more districts of Punjab, the total number will be increased to 21. She also sought a feasible plan to establish PHAs in the entire province, besides seeking details of manpower and assets of existing PHAs. She also directed the authorities concerned to prepare a resource generation plan for the financial independence of PHAs.
Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif directed the relevant authorities to immediately issue second installment under ‘Apni Chhat, Apna Ghar’ Programme for the homeless. She also directed them to issue allotment letters to the allottees of “Apni Zameen, Apna Ghar” Programme. Relevant authorities apprised her thar 121477 loans worth Rs 155 billion have been issued, and 65,000 houses have been completed so far under “Apni Chhat, Apna Ghar” Programme, while 700 houses are being built daily under the Programme. They also briefed her that Rs 5.15 billion have been recovered in installments under “Apni Chhat, Apna Ghar” Programme. She directed them to post on billboard scheduled completion time of the project.
Chief Minister Punjab expressed anger over leaving open streets and roads after digging, and directed the authorities responsible to immediately complete sewerage or construction and repair of roads to ensure public convenience. She was also apprised by the relevant authorities that construction, repair and rehabilitation projects worth Rs 204 billion will start in 52 cities of Punjab by February 22. She said,”We apologize for the inconvenience caused to people due to digging in roads.” She also reviewed in detail progress on waste water treatment plant, and described public complaints regarding the filter plant as regrettable. She directed the authorities concerned to install water filtration plants on priority basis in areas with bad water, and set a target to complete construction and renovation of water bottling and water filtration plants by 30 June. She vowed that people forced to bring water from far away in areas of DG Khan, Khushab, Rahim Yar Khan and Bahawalpur will get bottled water at their doorsteps. She also directed the relevant stakeholders to complete thorough cleaning of Lahore Canal soon.
Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif directed to ensure water drainage after rain as soon as possible. She was briefed that 4031 kilometers of roads will be constructed and repaired under 1529 Road Rehabilitation Projects. She directed the authorities concerned to install lane markings on new roads, besides installing beautiful tuff tiles on the road sides.
Sohail Majeed is a Special Correspondent at The Diplomatic Insight. He has twelve plus years of experience in journalism & reporting. He covers International Affairs, Diplomacy, UN, Sports, Climate Change, Economy, Technology, and Health.
