Urban development: MPs asked to propose infrastructure projects

District Coordination Committee holds first meeting on Big City Package.

LAHORE:

The District Coordination Committee held its first meeting on Monday to discuss the Big City Package, whereby the Punjab government has allotted funds for development projects in the large cities in the province.

The government has allocated Rs1.6 billion for projects in Lahore and the committee was briefed at the meeting at the Town Hall on what kind of projects they could propose.

The committee, which includes MNAs and MPAs elected from Lahore, will make sure that the development projects do not focus on any specific area and the funds are distributed evenly around the city, said officials.



The first committee meeting was chaired by MNA Afzal Khokhar and attended by 13 other MPA and MNAs. The chairmanship of the committee is rotated amongst the members, with Khokhar getting the first shot in alphabetical order.

Khawaja Imran Raza, the additional secretary to the chief minister and the secretary of the Special Committee on Infrastructure in Lahore, briefed the committee on the sorts of projects members should propose.

Committee members must propose projects costing at least Rs50 million for their constituencies. A ‘soft’ deadline of November 23 has been set for the submission of project proposals, while work orders for the approved projects are to be issued by December 20. The DCO is the committee secretary while all proposals would be submitted to EDO Works and Services Sabir Khan Sadozai.

Raza told The Express Tribune that the government wanted to hear proposals for projects that would benefit several localities, rather than projects focusing on one specific area. “We want proposals for projects like hospitals, schools, recreational facilities, bridges and underpasses,” he said.



He said that the deadline for the submission of proposals would be fluid. Members would be given the time they need to make proposals. Each member did not have to come up with a proposal, he said, adding that two or three members could make a joint proposal for a project. He said that projects costing up to Rs100 million would be sent to the Lahore commissioner for approval, while projects costing more than Rs100 million would be sent to the provincial government for approval.

At the meeting, committee members were told that neighbourhoods around Bund Road lacked water supply and sewerage facilities and a proposal to build them would be considered.

The city district government presented proposals for 14 projects, including for the shifting of the fruit and vegetable market from Badami Bagh, the establishment of a 60-bed tehsil headquarters hospital at Raiwind, the installation of 10 tube wells, and the establishment of Rescue 1122 stations at Gajju Mata, Manga Mandi, Jallo and Raiwind.

Executive District Officer Sabir Sadozai said that water supply, sewerage, health and flyover projects were discussed at the meeting. He said that the committee would ensure the funds are distributed evenly across Lahore.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 19^th, 2013.