November 20, 2008	Thursday	Ziqa'ad 21, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Nov 19: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday announced Rs4-billion Islamabad Development Package for the uplift of rural areas of the federal capital.

The package was announced in a meeting held here at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, which was attended by parliamentarian, Capital Development Authority (CDA) Chairman Tariq Mehmood Khan and Chief Commissioner Kamran Lashari.

A source told Dawn that the same package was also announced by former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz but could not be materialised.

The source said that of Rs4 billion, a chunk of Rs1billion had already been released to the local administration therefore this time the new package would resume all uplift schemes which were proposed in the previous package, thus it would now cost Rs3 billion.

A steering committee to monitor the development package was formed under federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan and Nayyar Bokhari and Faisal Butt as its members. Two of the members of the committee have lost elections in the federal capital while one is a non-political figure.

The prime minister directed the local administration that in order to make Islamabad a model city, rigorous efforts must be made to meet this objective.

He emphasised the need for giving special attention for the provision of education, health, sanitation and gas supply to all the areas including rural and urban zones of Islamabad evenly.

It is hoped that the Chief Commissioner Lashari, who is famous for his ‘green fingers’, will bring some visible changes in rural areas of the capital which have been neglected since the establishment of the city.

The prime minister expressed the confidence that the steering committee would come up with expectations of pubic.

He also asked the committee to identify mega projects in Islamabad for which the resources would be made available from the prime minister’s discretionary fund.

The development package announced by the former prime minister also covered urban areas of Islamabad as Rs4 billion earmarked for urban areas in it.

The new package will focus on improvement of health, education, gas supply and development in the rural areas.

Earlier, the chief commissioner briefed the Prime Minister about the expansion of facilities in health and education sectors, new drinking water schemes, up-graduation of water supply schemes, rehabilitation of rural roads and construction of farm to market roads in the rural areas.