RAWALPINDI, Aug 12: Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi on Thursday performed the ground-breaking of the Committee Chowk underpass and announced that three more underpasses would be constructed in the city at a cost of Rs0.75 billion.

Besides the underpasses, a university and a fine arts college will also be established in the city, the chief minister said while announcing several development projects worth millions of rupees for Rawalpindi. The fine arts college will be set up in the Arts Council building.

The other underpasses are planned to be constructed at Asghar Mall Chowk, Chandani Chowk and Sixth Road Chowk to ease the flow of traffic on Murree Road. Besides, Marir Chowk will be redesigned.

The Committee Chowk underpass will be completed in 90 days at a cost of Rs350 million. Almost 128,000 vehicles will daily use the underpass after its completion. Work on the project will continue 24 hours.

The CM said all the affected people were being compensated to their full satisfaction. "We do not want to cause inconvenience to anyone because of our development works," he added.

The chief minister defended his government's decision to construct a large number of underpasses, first in Lahore and now in Rawalpindi. He said all the underpasses had been constructed according to requirement. He said these underpasses were not a result of his personal liking for underpasses.

Mr Elahi also announced a grant of Rs50 million for the establishment of a Civil Club in Rawalpindi. Speaking about the provision of gas to Murree, he said it would be provided within a year at a cost of Rs500 million. He said Rs200 million would be provided by the Punjab government for the purpose, while Rs100 million was to be contributed by the Sui gas company.

The federal government, he said, would be requested for the remaining Rs200 million. About New Murree project, he said tenders were floated for making the master plan of the city, and three foreign companies had been shortlisted.

He said out of the Rs20 million grant announced for Murree, Rs10 million had already been released, while the second tranche of Rs10 million would be released within a few days.

The chief minister also announced that education would be made free upto matriculation from next year. Free books for upto class 10 will also be provided, he added.

He said Rawalpindi district had so far been given Rs300 million under Punjab Education Sector Reforms for provision of facilities in government-run schools. He said about 32,000 teachers were also being recruited to overcome the problem of teachers' shortage in the province. There are some 40,000 teachers' vacancies in Punjab.

All the steps for improvement of education sector have paid dividends, the chief minister. As a result of these measures taken by the Punjab government, the enrolment in government schools has risen this year by 524,000, whereas the drop-out rate has decreased substantially, he added.

Federal Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, in his speech, said enough had been done in the education sector in the city, and the need of the hour was to focus on improvement of healthcare facilities.

He urged the Punjab government to contribute towards the construction of new hospital at the site of the Federal TB Hospital. He said the federal government had already released Rs200 million for the purpose.

A total of Rs300 million had been pledged by the federal government for the project. The minister also proposed construction of Super Highway from Sadar to Islamabad to solve the traffic problems of the twin cities.