MULTAN: The PC-I of a Rs625 million Multan zoo project has been sent to the Planning and Development (P&D) Department for approval, says District Coordination Officer (DCO) Zahid Saleem Gondal.

Talking to APP on Tuesday, he said Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had already approved the project and work would begin as soon as its technical aspects were examined by experts, including the P&D and other departments.

The PC-I was sent to the DCO by the Wildlife Department and the DCO sent it to the Planning and Development Department. Sources from the Wildlife Department said that Multan zoo would be built over 57 acres at Mauza Balail near Chowk Naag Shah and 40 acres of which were being provided by the Wildlife Department and 17 acres by the district government, which was earlier allocated for a Safari park project.

Sources said Rs200 million would be spent on the purchase of animals for the zoo. After approval from the P&D department, experts from the Buildings Department would make detailed estimates for civil works.

In 2009, the then Multan commissioner had initiated the project and it was agreed the Wildlife Department would provide land and the rest of work would be completed by the district government. Recently, the Punjab government sought proposals from commissioners for development schemes and the Multan commissioner included the Multan zoo project in the list of proposed schemes. — APP