01 March 2005	Tuesday	19 Muharram 1426

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 28: Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Sher Afgan said on Monday that the local government elections could be postponed only under extreme exigencies through an ordinance , but the government intended to hold the polls before Aug 13 this year. During the question hour in the National Assembly, the minister said it was too early to give a schedule for the election.

Dr Afgan said Section 159 of the Local Government Ordinances 2001 of Punjab, Sindh, the NWFP and Balochistan provided that the term of the local governments would be four years. He said the last elections were completed in August 2001 and the term of the local governments would end on Aug 13.

In reply to questions of opposition members, including Naheed Khan, Raja Pervez Ashraf and Qamaruz Zaman, about new delimitation of constituencies and holding of the election on party basis, the minister said the Election Commission did not have any plan of changing the constituencies.

He said Section 153 of the Local Government Ordinance stipulated that the elections would be held on non-party basis. He said any change in the ordinance would require a two-thirds majority and consent of the president.

LYARI EXPRESSWAY: Communications Minister Shamim Siddiqui blamed the Karachi city government for delay in the completion of the Lyari Expressway and expressed the apprehension that the estimated cost of Rs5.1 billion would increase during the next two years.

In reply to a question by MNA Mohammad Hussain Mehanti, he said Rs2.3 billion had been spent on the expressway. He said the city government had to relocate 1.5 million people to clear the way but it did not take effective steps in this regard in more than three years.

He said the project had entered its fourth year and it might take another two years for completion if the pending issues were resolved. In reply to a question by MNA Ijaz Ahmed, the minister said the cost of the project, being executed by the Frontier Works Organization, could increase due to delays. He said no foreign loan had been taken for the project.

When MNA Laeeq Khan said the Sindh government was delaying the execution of the project announced as a gift to the people by President Gen Pervez Musharraf, Khursheed Shah of the People's Party Parliamentarians said the project was conceived by former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 1996. The minister rejected the opposition's claim about substandard work on the project and said no section of the expressway had been completed.

In his written response placed before the house, the minister said: "The project is running behind schedule due to delay in handing over of right of way to the National Highway Authority by the Sindh government and the city district government of Karachi." The minister said the expressway would be a tolled facility with expected collection of Rs649 million per annum.

UMRA OPERATION: In reply to a question by MNA Nawab Talpur about reasons for inconvenience and hardship suffered by Umra passengers at Jeddah airport at the hands of the Pakistan International Airlines during Ramazan, Defence Minister Rao Sikander Iqbal blamed lack of proper planning by the PIA to cater for the extra number of visitors.