ISLAMABAD, Sept 19: A government committee has decided to transfer funds amounting to Rs2 billion to speed up work on a project for lining 86,003 watercourses.

A press release issued here on Saturday said that the project called 'National Programme for Watercourses Improvement in Pakistan' was launched by President Pervez Musharraf and was expected to be completed in 52 months at a cost of Rs66 billion.

The second follow-up meeting of the Federal Steering Committee, chaired by the Secretary, Food, Agriculture and Livestock, was held here on Sept 14 to review the project's progress.

It was attended by agriculture secretaries from four provinces, Azad Jummu and Kashmir, Fana and representatives of Islamabad Capital Territory and Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The meeting was informed that Rs4 billion for 2004-05 has been allocated out of which funds Rs2 billion were being transferred to executing agencies.

The committee unanimously decided that provinces would take necessary steps for the improvement of 7,100 watercourses during the financial year 2004-05. The province-wise break-up of watercourse is as follows: Punjab 2,357 watercourses, 2,000 watercourses in Sindh, 1,265 in the NWFP, 940 in Balochistan, 135 in the AJK, 202 in Fata, 86 in Fana and 55 watercourses in Islamabad Capital Territory.

The federal government would arrange transfer of Rs4 billion during the financial year 2004-05 with Rs1.495 billion being provided to Punjab, Rs1.425 billion to Sindh, Rs611 million to the North-West Frontier Province, Rs300 million to Balochistan, Rs27 million to the AJK, Rs41 million to Federally-Administered Tribal Areas, Rs23 million to Fana and Rs9.728 million for ICT.

The meeting was informed that physical activities would be supervised in Punjab by Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan, while Minister of State for Food and Agriculture Mohammad Ali Malkani would look after project activities in Sindh and Balochistan.

The federal secretary for food and agriculture was entrusted to oversee activities in the NWFP. It was decided that the next meeting of the steering committee would be held in December, 2004.