PESHAWAR, April 5: The NWFP government has decided to shift the administrative control of the local area authorities from the local government and rural development department back to the housing department.

Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani had agreed to the plan and a notification was expected within a couple of days, a housing department official told Dawn.

The authorities worked under the housing and physical planning department before its abolition under a restructuring plan of the government departments.

The restructuring plan was aimed at curtailing non-developmental expenditures and various departments were dissolved or merged with other ones.

According to the official, the new decision has been taken to facilitate the housing department in implementing various projects in the public sector. The department was established on Nov 1, 2004. The Provincial Housing Authority was formed under an act promulgated in 2005.

Provincial Local Government Minister Sardar Mohammad Idrees said that under the Local Government Ordinance, 2001, the local area authorities were bound to work under the supervision of the district governments.

“Since the district governments are answerable to the LG&RD department, the local area authorities ultimately come within the jurisdiction of the same department,” the minister explained.

An official pointed out that the city development and municipal department also covered the municipal functions, which would create an anomaly in the system.

Under the LGO, the official explained, such municipal functions were supposed to be handed over to the town municipal administrations.