LAHORE: The Punjab Transport Department signed an agreement on Wednesday with the Bank of Punjab (BoP) to provide 20,000 motorcycles to students on easy monthly installments.

Transport Secretary Ahmed Javed Qazi and BoP President Zafar Masood signed the memorandum of understanding, with Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz also in attendance.

She announced, “As many as 19,000 petrol bikes and 1,000 e-bikes will be provided to students free of interest in monthly installments.”

The monthly installment for a petrol bike will be Rs5,000, while for the e-bike, it will be less than Rs10,000. The government will cover the interest on providing bikes to students on easy installments in collaboration with the BoP, she added. She said equal representation of male and female students in the distribution of bikes would be ensured.

She also chaired a meeting regarding construction of 100,000 houses for low-income people. She instructed to expedite the site selection process in six major cities of Punjab for this purpose – Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Sargodha and Rawalpindi.

“Select sites considering all basic amenities. If space is available, construct these houses in city centres; otherwise, choose the nearest locations to ensure public convenience,” she instructed.

She said “Apni Chhat, Apna Ghar Project” would be a significant success, providing people with all facilities for a happy life.

The meeting was informed that the Board of Revenue had identified 117 sites across Punjab, which would be inspected and finalised for the housing project.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2024