April 15, 2007	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 26, 1428

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LAHORE, April 14: The Punjab government will begin acquiring land for building the $2.4 billion first corridor – from Shahdara to Yuhana Abad – of the proposed Lahore Mass Transit System project from the next month, and work on the construction of its first depot will begin from July.

Punjab Planning and Development Board chairman Suleman Ghani said this at a press briefing held at the Punjab Resource Management Programme (PRMP) office on Saturday.

The briefing was held to apprise the media of the provincial government’s administrative, financial, economic and social reforms going on under the Asian Development Bank-assisted PRMP.

Mr Ghani gave a detailed overview of the development initiatives undertaken by the Punjab government over the past three years or so, saying more were being launched from the next fiscal year.

Speaking about the project, Mr Ghani said an international consultant was already working on its reference design. The government would be in a position to call for tenders for the project once 30 per cent of the reference design was completed, he said. He said land had already been identified for the construction of two main depots, one each at Yuhana Abad and Shahdara, but hadn’t decided which to build first. He said the first corridor would be completed in next 4-5 years, and the provincial government planned to build four corridors for the LMTS project by 2016-17.

The chairman said the fourth Punjab Development Forum (PDF) this year would be held on May 23-24 at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat at 90-Shahrah-i-Quaid-i-Azam where the provincial government planned to unveil its sanitation reforms on the lines of educational and health reforms discussed at the previous fora. He said sanitation was one of the major issues facing the people of the province.

Mr Ghani said the Punjab government would also introduce Agriculture Marketing Act at the upcoming PDF, which aimed at revamping the existing agriculture marketing. He said the government had already passed a consumer protection law, and the consumer courts proposed therein would be set up by the end of this year.

When pointed out that the poorer segment of society was not getting the fruits of the reforms, and the prices of the essential items remained beyond their reach, he said the government did not play the role of interventionist in the market. “The government role should not be to intervene in the market and control the prices, but to improve the supply side. Moreover, the government is giving Rs2 billion subsidy on the provision of ration at cheaper rates to one million vulnerable families or the poor of the poor.”

He said the PDF would also discuss commercialisation policy, building laws and water supply system. He said the district governments had to execute reforms in these areas under the provincial policies if they wanted to receive funds.

Mr Ghani said the government had worked out an urban policy for investment in five big cities of Punjab as part of its policy to treat cities as “engines of economic growth”. He said the pension and GP funds would be made an off-budget item by the end of this year as part of governance reforms. He said it would take a huge financial burden off the back of the provincial government, and provide greater room to it to increase its budget on infrastructure and social sector development programmes.

Those attending the fourth PDF will include: Seymour-Smith, South Asia director, DFID, UK; Praful Patel, Vice-President, South Asia Region, World Bank; Jaun Miranda, Director General, Central & West Asia Department, Asian Development Bank; Yusupha B Crookes, WB Country Director for Pakistan; Yusaf Samiullah, Head, DFID-Pakistan; and Peter Fedon, Country Director, ADB. It will be inaugurated by Chief Minster Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.