ICT to jumpstart lingering development projects

37 development schemes to be executed before the fiscal year ends.


Azam Khan May 16, 2011

ISLAMABAD:


The Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration has chalked out an emergency plan to execute 37 pending development schemes, mostly for the rural areas of ICT, before the end of the current fiscal year.


The decision has been made in response to the objections raised by the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) last year on ICT’s budget, sources inside the Interior Ministry said.

The AGP had raised objections that ICT had failed to utilise most of its allocated funds, which caused a number of its development schemes to lapse. The ICT administration is hence making efforts to execute the lingering projects, especially those in the rural areas, the sources said. In his press statement, Chief Commissioner Islamabad Tariq Mahmood Pirzada said that “all-out efforts are underway to bring the standards of living of people in rural areas of Islamabad at par with the urban areas” by providing them optimum healthcare, educational and infrastructural facilities, along with development of agriculture and drinking water facilities in rural areas of ICT.

The 37 development schemes in the rural areas, 14 new and 23 revised, were approved in a meeting of the Islamabad Development Working Party on Tuesday. The meeting was chaired by Pirzada. These schemes are meant for the uplift of rural areas of the city and various departments of ICT including Islamabad Police and Sessions Divisions Islamabad.

In the meeting, the administration approved three new development schemes, subject to examination and clearance by the Planning and Development Division, sources said. These schemes include improvements in security measures for police barracks in sector F-7/2, with a cost of Rs3.846 million; provision of a drainage and sewerage system, and construction of an approach road within Police Lines Headquarters in H-11, costing Rs59.058 million; construction of a boundary wall around 96 flats, along with their renovation, in sector G-9/1, costing Rs43.078 million. The meeting also approved PC-1 for the revised project of construction of residential accommodation for officials of Sessions Division.

The ICT administration also approved two revised development schemes, also subject to clearance by the Planning and Development Division, for construction of two Rural Health Centres at Tarlai and Sihala, at a cost of Rs25.013 million, along with uplift, rehabilitation and renovation of 14 other Basic Health Units in the rural areas.

For the Public Sector Development Programme, the Islamabad Development Working Party approved seven new development schemes and 11 revised schemes with a total estimated cost of Rs889.9 million for the uplift of rural areas of ICT. The projects included setting up drinking water supply facilities, construction and renovation of roads, streets and a protection wall in different union councils of ICT rural areas.

The meeting approved three revised and six new development schemes under Islamabad Development Package Program, with a cumulative cost of Rs410.588 million, including construction and renovation of roads, streets, solid waste management depots, and a bridge.

Six new schemes in the education sector were also approved, including construction of additional classrooms in various federal government educational institutions, along with a scheme related to civil defence for improvement and development costing Rs18.691 million.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 16th, 2011.

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