QUETTA, Sept 4: The city district government launched 255 development schemes during the last financial year and around 90 per cent of them have been completed, District Nazim Mohammed Rahim Kakar informed newsmen at a press conference on Tuesday.

He said the city government launched 51 development schemes under Social Action Programme while 127 schemes were implemented under Khushhal Pakistan Programme phase-III and 77 under president’s Education Sector Reforms (ESR) Programme.

He said that of the SAP schemes, 22 belonged to the education sector, 19 to public health engineering and 10 to the health sector. The schemes would cost Rs43.7 million.

Of the KPP schemes, 60 belonged to education, 38 to health and 29 to road and drains. For the ESR schemes, the federal government released Rs24 million to the district government for the first phase, he said.

The Nazim said Rs83.033 million had been provided by the provincial government under governor’s special package and another Rs65 million would be released to the district government later.

He said Rs63 million had been released to Quetta Development Authority to be spent on development schemes, including construction of Mian Ghundi, Old Mastung and Khojak roads at a cost of Rs140 million and cover over a part of Habib Nullah at Rs40 million cost.

Mr Kakar said schemes costing Rs583.08 million would be launched in the district during the current fiscal year.

He said the district government had received Rs92.08 million under General Sales Tax from the provincial government, of which Rs52 million had been transferred to union councils. An additional Rs194,000 had been provided to each union council and another Rs500,000 would be released to them for development schemes, he said.

No union council would be given funds if it did not pass its budget, he said.

He said 12 new tubewells would be installed, 15 would be replaced and 15km water pipelines would be laid.

Under the president’s water supply scheme, 60 tubewells would be installed and 150 overhead tanks would be constructed in the city, he said.