LAHORE, Oct 11: Five MPAs will also constitute the bodies that are responsible for the development of cities in the province, according to a law enacted by the Punjab Assembly on Wednesday.

The Punjab Development of Cities (Amendment) Act 2006 will govern development authorities already functioning in Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and Multan.

PPP’s Samiullah Khan pointed out quorum when Law Minister Raja Basharat moved the Punjab Development of Cities (Amendment) Bill 2006. Except for PML-N’s Rana Sanaullah and MMA’s Arshad Baggu all opposition members walked out of the house.

There were over 100 members in the house when the teller completed the count as the ruling party legislators had started filling benches when the opposition MPAs were going out.

Deputy Opposition leader Rana Sanaullah and Raja Basharat introduced amendments to the draft law when the speaker announced to resume proceedings after the count, and after the final reading the bill was unanimously passed.

Headed by the district Nazim, each authority will comprise town nazims, representatives of the Punjab planning and development board, finance, housing, urban development and public health engineering, local government and rural development departments and the managing director of the Water and Sanitation Agency. The district coordination officer will be the secretary of the 14-member authority.

The chief minister will also nominate three treasury and two opposition MPAs, the latter in consultation with the opposition leader. Preference will, however, be given to the MPAs whose constituencies fall within the area of that development authority.

Membership of the authority, according to the new law, could be altered, increased or decreased by the district council with the approval of the government. In case of deficit revenue of the authority, the city district government concerned will provide from its own revenue of any other source, such sum as would be necessary for the efficient performance of the functions of the development body.

The authority will, at such time as may be prescribed, prepare an annual budget statement for the next financial year, showing the estimated receipts and expenditures of the authority and its agencies and submit it to the District Council for approval through the city district government.