LAHORE, Nov 24: Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has announced starting of work on the Rs7 billion Lahore Ring Road project in next four months.

He was speaking at an Iftar dinner reception hosted in his honour by District Nazim Mian Amer Mahmood at the Model Town Park here on Monday.

Pervaiz Elahi said that the Lahore Ring Road alignment had been changed to suit the interests of the rulers in the past. The wrong would be rectified now.

He said that President Gen Pervez Musharraf had desired construction of the Lahore Ring Road during his surprise visit to the recently completed The Mall underpass on Sunday.

The chief minister said he had ordered starting of work on the project after completion of traffic survey and finalization of design in four months.

He assured the District Nazim that the provincial government would fund all the projects meant for beautification of the historic city of Lahore irrespective of the costs involved because it symbolized our culture and civilization.

He asked the District Nazim to develop an exemplary town like the Model Town with the assurance that the provincial government would finance the project.

Pervaiz Elahi said that the Punjab government was spending Rs1.75 billion on the construction of underpasses in Lahore. Underpasses at the Azadi Chowk, Regal Chowk, Faisal Chowk, Yateem Khana Chowk and GPO Chowk would be built in the near future.

He said that the water supply and sewerage system in the Walled City was also being revamped.

The provincial government has, in its current budget, allocated Rs6 billion, which was more than the allocation for the previous year.

District Nazim Mian Amer Mahmood eulogised the policies of Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi for the uplift of the province.

He said that the chief minister had not only declared the education up to secondary level free but also provided funds for the recruitment of teachers and provision of missing facilities in the schools.

Mian Amer said that the chief minister had provided Rs150 million to the city district government for improvement of the buildings of schools and provision of the necessary facilities but also funded the programme for development of kutchi abadis and grant of ownership rights to the dwellers.