RAWALPINDI, June 28: The Ministry of Environment will spend Rs1,618.794 million on 48 environmental projects during 2007-08 under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).

Out of the 48 projects, 35 are ongoing projects for which an amount of Rs1,031.449 million had been allocated.

The 13 new projects include conversion of municipal waste into energy and fertiliser, and conversion of polythene bags, waste tyres and waste rubber and plastic into light fuel oil through microwave technology.

Both of these projects would be implemented on public- private partnership basis at the ratio of 3:2.

The other projects are related to the field of forestry like conservation of juniper forests in Balochistan and development of forestry sector resources for carbon sequestration in the Punjab, NWFP, Sindh, Balochistan and Azad and Jammu Kashmir.

In the meantime, Federal Minister for Environment Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat issued directives to the officials of his ministry to submit monthly and quarterly reports on a regular basis. He asked them to prepare work plans for the projects well in time so that financial resources are utilised to the maximum.

Presiding over a high-level meeting in Islamabad on Wednesday, Mr Hayat underlined the importance of enhanced coordination between different wings of the environment ministry.

He suggested even merging operationally different cells of the ministry. This, he said, would enable the staff to benefit from the expertise of one another and enlarge their understanding of the environmental issues.

The meeting was attended by Secretary Environment Mian Mohammad Jamil, Additional Secretary Sami Khilji and heads of all the wings of the ministry.