Rs150bn three-year rural roads programme approved

Work on the project will begin next month.

LAHORE: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Saturday approved a Rs150 billion allocation for the construction and renovation of roads in the province under the Rural Roads Programme.

Sharif said the project would be completed in three years.

He said in the first phase, 255 roads would be repaired and renovated for Rs15 billion during the current financial year. He said all roads would be carpeted and 12-feet-wide.

The chief minister said this was the biggest construction and repair programme ever for rural roads. He said the programme would transform rural economies.

He said a third-party audit was mandatory to ensure quality standards.

He said the Rural Roads Programme would launch next month.

School reforms

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Saturday the Punjab Schools Reforms Roadmap was showing encouraging results.

He said attendance of teachers and students had improved substantially and many missing facilities schools had been provided missing facilities.

He said that DCOs and education EDOs would be encouraged to achieve education targets by 2018. He said expenditure on education was not a burden, but an investment.

He was chairing a meeting to review the Punjab Schools Reforms Roadmap. He expressed satisfaction over the progress on the programme.

Department for International Development (DFID) representative Michael Barber gave an overview on the progress so far.

Sharif said improving literacy and education standards was a top priority of the government. The chief minister said billions of rupees were being spent on the education sector.

He said the education minister and the school education secretary should visit the districts performing poorly.

He said an effective teachers training programme was vital for better education standards.

Sharif said the government was working on a programme to distribute computer tablets among male and female students.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 29^th, 2015.