LAHORE: The City District Government of Lahore (CDGL) has started construction of six new Rescue 1122 stations in various parts of the provincial capital.

“Lahore is the city of more than 10 million people where fire, cylinder blast and roadside accidents are reported on a daily basis. This situation demands a prompt emergency response by the rescuers and the CDGL has identified six locations in the city for more rescue stations,” said DCO retired Capt Muhammad Usman in a press release on Monday.

The sites for new stations are Gajjumatta, Manga Mandi, Raiwind, Maraka, Nazir Garden and Bedian Road.

The CDGL spokesman said Gajjumatta station would cover the industrial area, Ferozepur Road and its adjacent localities and the rescuers at this station would be able to respond to any emergency.

Manga Mandi station is being constructed at Manga bypass and it will cover the industrial area along with Manga Road. Raiwind Road, having expansion of Lahore city with new housing schemes, also required a rescue office which also could to respond to emergency cases of Raiwind congregation.

“Sixteen ambulances, eight fire engines, eight rescue vehicles and other necessary equipment are also being purchased for the new rescue stations,” he revealed.

ROAD: The Lahore Development Authority (LDA) has planned to construct a 13km road from Mohlanwal, Multan Road, to Jaranwala Road, Sharaqpur, in collaboration with private partners.

The project will be executed on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis under the Punjab Public Private Partnership Act 2014.

According to an LDA spokesman, the private partner shall be required to design, engineer, finance, construct, maintain and operate the project for 25 years in exchange of a concession to exclusively collect toll.

The LDA will be responsible for acquisition of land, provision of clear right of way and shifting of services for the project.

The LDA has also invited interested parties of strong financial standing with capability to bring together necessary skills and resources to submit bids through a single-stage three envelope process, the authority’s spokesman said.

Meanwhile, he said the LDA had started proceedings for acquiring 1,105 kanals at Sidhar village for its new LDA City scheme.

The land acquisition collector has issued a notification under section of the relevant laws and invited the persons having objections, if any, to the compensation or measurement of their land to file their objections in written form on May 19 at 467 D-II Main Boulevard, Johar Town.

COMMITTEES: The city administration has constituted various committees to regulate operations of Ramazan bazaars and fair price shops.

According to a CDGL spokesman, the committee that would deal with the issues of demand and supply and meeting with the distributors, etc. comprises of secretary to administrator, executive district officer (EDO agriculture), secretary market committee and extra assistant director (agriculture).

The second committee that would manage the affairs of commodity supply from the national and multinational companies comprises of district officers (coordination, food and industry).

The third committee, under the district officer (electrical and maintenance) would see the arrangements/facilities in Ramazan bazaars.

The spokesman said the additional district collector (revenue) has been appointed as focal person for supply of sugar to bazaars during Ramazan.

The district officer (livestock) would be the focal person to deal with the supply of chicken, mutton and beef in bazaars.

The CDGL has also deputed some other officers as focal persons for the supply of flour, implementation on standard operating procedures (SOPs).

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2016