RAWALPINDI, Dec 15: The provincial government will start major uplift projects worth Rs500 million in the city from next month, provincial local bodies minister Raja Basharat said here on Monday.

Speaking during a ceremony held at the Government Boys High School Dhamial, he said chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Ellahi would formally announce the package during his forthcoming visit to the city.

Giving the outline of the mega-development projects, Mr Basharat said Rs280 million would be spent on the construction of an under-pass at Committee Chowk for easing traffic load on Murree Road. Likewise, Rs150 million will be spent on provision of facilities at educational institutions, while Rs70 million has been allocated for widening of Bakra Mandi Road. The minister said the chief minister was taking personal interest in the development of the city.

Speaking about the development works underway in the district, Mr Basharat said work on the chief minister’s Rs200 million package for Murree had been initiated with Rs100 million. Similar other projects, he said, were also being undertaken in other parts of the district.

He said appointments against 32,000 vacancies in the province had been completed and the second phase of recruitment would begin shortly. The vacancies will be publicized in the newspapers.

He said the chief minister, during his visit, would also lay foundation stone of a girls’ college in Dhoke Syedan.

The local bodies minister announced a grant of Rs2 million for the extension of Government Boys College Dhamial’s building and provision of laboratories and other facilities at the institution.