TAXILA: The district administration of Attock on Tuesday approved the construction plans of 203 commercial properties across the district during the Design Vetting Committee meeting of District Planning and Design Committee (DPDC) after a thorough analysis.

These commercial projects across the district are now approved and can opt for development generating revenue for cash stricken municipal committees and district council as well.

The meeting was chaired by Deputy Commissioner Attock Rao Atif Raza, while additional Deputy Commissioner Revenue Waqas Aslam Marth, Additional Deputy Commissioner General Adnan Anjum Raja, Additional Deputy Commissioner Finance and Planning Waqar Akbar Cheema, District Officer Planning Ijaz Ahmed, Assistant Commissioner Attock Shagufta Jabeen, officials of local administration, finance, roads, buildings and other departments were also present on this occasion.

DC Raza said that for the first time in the history of district Attock, 203 construction plans were approved across the district. While unveiling details of the sanctioned plans, he said that these include 69 construction plans from district council Attock, 93 from municipal committee Attock and 41 from Fatehjang.

Responding to a question, Mr Raza said that all these cases had been pending for a long time as about a 100 commercial cases were approved during the previous meeting of the committee. He said that applicants whose commercial plans have been approved, they should submit the respective fees under the current schedule by June 30 as there is a possibility of changes in the fee schedule during the next financial year. He further said that construction should not be started at the site until the commercial cases are approved.

It may be mentioned here that the District Planning and Design Committee (DPDC) in Attock district had failed to convene a meeting for over two years before Mr Rao Atif resumed the charge. Due to non approval of these plans, this state of affairs was causing significant financial losses to the six municipal committees (MC).

The uncalled and unnecessary delay resulted in the status of over 55 commercial properties being left unresolved and deprived the MCs of millions of rupees in revenue. As of now these plans are approved, these MCs would get rid of financial problems, especially timely disbursement of pay and pension to their employees.

Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2023