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| March 3, 2003 | Monday | Zul Hijjah 29, 1423 |
NWFP seeks Rs2bn for development
PESHAWAR, March 2: The NWFP government has sought Rs2bn from the federal government for developing basic infrastructure at district headquarters, including proper secretariats for the newly-installed district governments, official sources told Dawn.
The provincial government sought this financial assistance at a recent meeting of the steering committee on local bodies constituted by Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, well-placed sources said.
The provincial minister for local government and rural development Sardar Idrees, when contacted, also confirmed that the provincial government had asked for financial assistance of Rs2bn from the federal government for the purpose of establishing basic infrastructure facilities at district headquarters.
“Several of the district governments lack even the basic infrastructure,” said the minister.
Official sources said the provincial government justified its demand on the grounds that it had established 23 new towns [sub-divisions] with the introduction of the new local government system on Aug 14, 2001.
The newly established administrative entities did not have proper infrastructure to fulfil the purposes for which they had been set up.
In some of the areas, said the sources, the town municipal administrations did not have buildings to help them have a proper secretariat.
Some even lacked proper infrastructure to extend basic facilities to the people of the area, like hospitals, schools, roads, streetlights.
Senior officers, who took part in a series of seminars recently organized by the provincial government at Peshawar to get feedback from the district governments’ authorities regarding their financial requirements, also complained about a lack of infrastructure and buildings to house their offices.
Provincial minister for local government and rural development Sardar Idrees said the NWFP government had asked the federal authorities and the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) to provide the required funds to ensure smooth functioning of the new system.
“If they want to make the new local government system a success, they should provide the money,” said the minister.
According to official documents available with Dawn, the province needs around Rs1.2bn only to cater for the cost of construction of new buildings, including purchase of land where required.
Besides, the previous provincial government had estimated that a sum of Rs170m was required for the renovation/repair and furnishing of buildings housing councils’ halls in addition to Rs56m for paying the rent of some such buildings.
The provincial government did not have the capacity to arrange the needed funds with the result several of the district governments went without the requisite infrastructure for their own effective functioning, the minister said.
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