{"id":73044,"date":"2026-09-05T13:28:31","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T08:28:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baldiyattimes.com\/?p=73044"},"modified":"2026-09-05T13:28:31","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T08:28:31","slug":"punjab-inclusive-cities-programme-progress-reviewed-with-world-bank-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baldiyattimes.com\/?p=73044","title":{"rendered":"*Punjab Inclusive Cities Programme progress reviewed with World Bank team*"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A World Bank technical mission met with Secretary Local Government Punjab Zaid Bin Maqsood at the Punjab Civil Secretariat to review progress on the Punjab Inclusive Cities Programme (PICP), ongoing development projects and future targets.The meeting discussed measures being undertaken to improve urban infrastructure, water supply, drainage, wastewater management and municipal services in various cities of Punjab.Managing Director Punjab Municipal Development Fund Company (PMDFC) Syed Zahid Aziz gave a detailed briefing on various components of the PICP, progress on ongoing projects and planned initiatives.The meeting was told that work on the urban development framework under the PICP was progressing satisfactorily. The process of identifying land for the establishment of wastewater treatment plants had also been completed.Mr Maqsood directed the authorities to ensure completion of all development targets under the PICP within the stipulated timelines and to strengthen monitoring of the pace and quality of project implementation.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 1280px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('video');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-73044-1\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"https:\/\/baldiyattimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/VID-20260905-WA0007.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/baldiyattimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/VID-20260905-WA0007.mp4\">https:\/\/baldiyattimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/VID-20260905-WA0007.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p>He stressed the need for effective utilisation of available funds to enhance the own-source revenue of municipalities, saying this would help improve the financial capacity of municipal institutions and ensure sustainability of municipal services.The secretary also directed that a modern energy management plan be implemented to reduce electricity expenditure. He called for practical measures to improve energy efficiency and bring down operational costs of municipal institutions.Mr Maqsood said the progress on the urban development framework under the PICP was satisfactory, but continuous monitoring was essential to ensure that all projects were completed according to the prescribed timelines.According to the briefing, work on drainage projects in 14 cities would commence in November this year. The programme would also provide more than 474,000 water connections to citizens.Mr Zahid further said that a new concept paper was being prepared for the establishment of WASAs in Chiniot, Mandi Bahauddin, Pakpattan and Rajanpur. The initiative is aimed at improving water supply, sewerage and other municipal services in these cities.The secretary directed the authorities to ensure quality, transparency, efficient use of resources and timely completion of all development projects so that the benefits of the programme could reach citizens directly.Members of the World Bank technical mission, MD PMDFC Syed Zahid Aziz and relevant officials of the Local Government Department and PMDFC attended the meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A World Bank technical mission met with Secretary Local Government Punjab Zaid Bin Maqsood at the Punjab Civil Secretariat to review progress on the Punjab Inclusive Cities Programme (PICP), ongoing development projects and future targets.The meeting discussed measures being undertaken to improve urban infrastructure, water supply, drainage, wastewater management and municipal services in various cities &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-40"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baldiyattimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baldiyattimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baldiyattimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baldiyattimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baldiyattimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=73044"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baldiyattimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73045,"href":"https:\/\/baldiyattimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73044\/revisions\/73045"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baldiyattimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/73042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baldiyattimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=73044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baldiyattimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=73044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baldiyattimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=73044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}