May 17, 2003	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 14, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, May 16: A row between housing ministry and Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) is affecting re-development plan of Sector G-6, a source in the ministry told Dawn.

He said a committee headed by the ministry secretary would meet here on May 19 to remove all hurdles in execution of the project.

The meeting will also be attended by CDA chairman, Iesco chief executive, Pakistan Housing Authority (PHA) chairman, and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) director general.

The source said the ministry had some reservations over installation of an electricity feeder for the sector as demanded by Iesco.

The ministry wanted to install a transformer instead of a feeder as it would cost Rs3 million, while the price of a feeder was stated to be Rs15 million.

The source said Iesco was of the view that a transformer was suitable for only 200 houses, therefore, it would not be sufficient for about 5,000 housing units to be constructed under the sector re-development project.

The meeting will also finalize the procedure for providing proprietary rights to the residents of G-6. It has been decided, in principle, to give proprietary rights to the sector residents, the source said.

According to an estimate, the cost of one housing unit would be Rs1.2 million and the buyer would have to pay 10 per cent of the total cost as down payment.

The meeting will also finalize a plan regarding installation of power and gas supply metres in all housing units. In addition to this, issues regarding laying of new sewerage and water supply lines would also be discussed and finalized.

The source said in the first phase of the project, some 200 houses located in G-6/1-4 would be demolished and replaced by new housing units. These 200 houses, he added, had already been marked.

The re-development plan of Sector G-6, a joint venture of PHA and CDA, will cost Rs5 billion, the source said, adding that the plan was prepared to provide better accommodation facilities to the government employees as some 4,000 houses in the sector were in dilapidated condition.

A CDA official said the plan would be implemented phase wise and was likely to be completed within five years. He said residents of the sector, mostly retired and serving government servants, had been asked to pay the cost of the flats to get proprietary rights.