0
HYDERABAD, Dec 11: The District Coordination Officer has said Rs6 billion will be spent on the improvement of water supply and sewerage systems under the Hyderabad Development Package.
Talking to tax payers at the conference hall of the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Wednesday, DCO Mohammad Hussain Syed disclosed that work on a revised scheme, started in 1996-97, was also continuing.
He said funds were always released by the government but they more often than not lapsed due to non-utilization in the fixed period. Consequently, he said, funds were reduced for future schemes.
Quoting an example, Mr Syed said former Sindh Governor Mohammedmian Soomro had approved a Rs500 million development package but only Rs9 million of the released Rs125 million was utilized and the remaining amount was returned.
He expressed the hope some amount would be released from the lapsed funds.
About the future of the Hyderabad Development Authority, the DCO said the issue would be resolved soon and added that the HCCI would be given due representation in future schemes.
He said a scheme had also been prepared for construction of the Hyderabad-Latifabad overhead bridge.
He said MNAs, MPAs and Nazims had sent their development schemes and added that during the current year, Rs2.5 billion would be released from the Hyderabad Development Package of Rs10.5 billion.
The DCO said the remaining amount would be released in instalments during next four years.
He said Rs1 billion would be spent on roads, an overhead bridge and a fly-over.
He said for the effective use of the Hyderabad fund, modalities were being formulated and services of experts would be hired for implementation of development projects.
Mr Syed said special army teams would monitor the development works.
He said the shifting of the vegetable and fruit market to Hala Naka would be completed by March 2004. He said this would help resolve problems of fruit and vegetable merchants.
PRICE INCREASE CONDEMNED: The group leader of the Al-Khidmat Group, District Council, Hyderabad, Rana Mehmood Ali Khan, has condemned the inordinate increase in the prices of wheat flour and held the provincial government responsible for creating flour crisis.
In a statement issued here on Tuesday, he said that on the one hand, the Atta Chakki and flour mill owners were accusing the food department for the non-supply of wheat and on the other the food department has claimed that enough wheat was available and it was being supplied according to quota.
He said that the real sufferers were the poor people who were forced to purchase flour at a high price in the present age of hyper-inflation.
He said the only culprit was the provincial government which had failed to take effective measures to control the situation.
He demanded that the Sindh government take immediate action against the profiteers.
HESCO: The project director of Hesco, Guftar Anjum, has said that under the Tameer-i-Pakistan Programme the company provided electricity to 26 villages in Hyderabad, Tharparkar, Nawabshah, Sanghar, Shikarpur, Sukkur and Ghotki districts during the month of November.
In his monthly report released to the press on Tuesday, he said that the total cost of electrification came to over Rs16.9 million.
He said the total length of the power lines is over 55 kms on which 36 transformers of 10 KVA, 27 transformers of 15 KVA, 11 transformers of 25 KVA and three transformers of 50 KVA have been installed.
