Minister for Local Government Zeeshan Rafique has said that 2,613 km of streets will be paved under the Punjab Development Program (PDP). A total of 3,497 km of sewerage will also be laid. He was chairing a review meeting held at the Civil Secretariat. Project Director Brigadier (retd) Asad Mahmood gave a briefing. Minister for Local Government Zeeshan Rafique said that the PDP is a mega project worth Rs 304 billion. “In the first phase, development schemes will start in 10 out of 52 cities. Rs 54 billion will be spent on these ten cities. For this, the Punjab government has been released an initial grant of Rs 7.5 billion”, he elaborated. He said that Attock, Lalamusa, Layyah, Mailsi, Alipur Chatha are included in the initial phase. Similarly, work will also be done in Khanewal, Burewala, Jaranwala, Vehari and Silanwali cities first. Zeeshan Rafique said that 56 new and 61 old disposal stations will be converted to solar energy. “Thus, he went on, 21 thousand kilowatts of electricity will be generated and crores of rupees will be saved in monthly bills”. He said that increasing the capacity of disposal stations to 2114 cusecs will also reduce the risks of urban flooding. He said that underground water tanks will be constructed under the project, due to which rainwater will be collected instead of being wasted.
The Minister for Local Government said that Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz wants to provide all necessary facilities in 200 cities of Punjab. “Schemes have been made in the PDP keeping in mind the potential population of the cities by 2050”, he added. The Provincial Minister directed the Project Director to effectively monitor the work on all the schemes emphasising that every activity should be updated on the dashboard on the pattern of Lahore Development Program.
