Welfare projects: Shahbaz promises 10,000 Aashiana houses for the poor

Issues instructions for reorganisation to make Aashiana Housing Project more effective.

LAHORE:

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Friday said 10,000 houses would be constructed in Aashiana Iqbal.

He issued instructions for reorganisation of the Punjab Land Development Company to make the Aashiana Housing Project more effective.

He was presiding over a meeting to review various proposals for construction of houses in the Aashiana Housing Project under a public-private partnership programme. LDA Director General Ahad Cheema gave a detailed briefing on Aashiana Housing Project.

The chief minister said the government was determined to complete public welfare projects quickly and in a transparent manner. He said the government had decided to reorganise the Punjab Land Development Company for expediting the work on Aashiana Iqbal at Burki Road and a new board for the company would soon be constituted.

He said the company should work under a corporate model and immediate construction of the approach road from Burki to Aashiana Iqbal be ensured. He said transparency and standard had been the hallmark of every project of the government and Aashiana Iqbal would also be completed under this policy.

Nandipur power project to be completed by year-end

The chief minister said the government was working on energy generation projects said the 425 megawatt Nandipur Power project would be completed by December 2014. He was presiding over a meeting to review the pace of work on Nandipur power project. Nandipur power project managing director, the Lahore commissioner and the Gujranwala DCO were also present. The chief minister said resolving the energy crisis was a top priority of the government. He said poor policies  of previous governments had led to a severe shortage of power. He said Nandipur power project was an example of the negligence of former governments. He said machinery for the project had been “rotting” at the Karachi port for three and a half years. Sharif said the government had revived the Nandipur power project within a few months and its first turbine would start operating by the end of July. He said initially 100 megawatt electricity will be produced.

He said that energy projects based on coal and solar power were also on the cards and agreements had been signed with Chinese companies for generation of electricity from coal in Gadani and Sahiwal.

He said two modern coal power plants of 660 megawatt each at Sahiwal had been finalised and work on the project would start next month. He said the coal power plant in Sahiwal was good news for the people of Punjab.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 19^th, 2014.