HYDERABAD, Feb 11: Sindh Chief Secretary Fazlur Rehman on Wednesday assured Hyderabad District Nazim Kanwar Naveed Jamil that the government would soon release funds to help the district complete work on ongoing development schemes in the city.

He said at a meeting at the District Nazim Secretariat attended by senior officers of the district government that necessary equipment and machinery would be provided to the disaster management cell and under-construction trauma centre.

Earlier, the nazim briefed the chief secretary on development works and said that the Hyderabad Master Plan 2007-27 had been prepared, which encompassed the city’s requirements up to 2027.

The Geographical Information System (GIS) for the city would be completed by May 2009, making the district government the first in the country to achieve that hallmark, he said.

He said that the district government has initiated 1,315 schemes out of which 924 had been completed, 108 were near completion, 180 were in progress and work on 103 were to start at a cost of Rs15,129.74 million.

The master plan envisaged construction of nine flyovers and underpasses and six bridges to ensure smooth flow of traffic and reduce distance, he said.

The nazim said that with the help of 126 sewerage schemes, it had become easier to dispose of sewage. The drainage system had been improved a lot and two filter plants had been completed, while the third would be completed in March and the fourth would start working in June this year, he said.

He said that Hyderabad would be the second city in the country after Islamabad where all people would get clean drinking water. About 210 government schools had been converted into English medium to provide quality education in public sector while 80 more English medium schools would be established this year, he said.

He said that 40 diabetic centres, an eye hospital, a 40-bed children’s hospital with ICU and dialysis centre had been established, 1,600 hepatitis patients were treated by the district government hospitals and more than 100,000 students of 1,100 government schools would be vaccinated.

He requested the provincial and federal governments to release funds to help the district government complete ongoing work on development schemes.

Hyderabad DCO Aftab Ahmed Khatri, EDO revenue Barkat Rizvi and other government officials and UC nazims were present on the occasion.

Earlier, the chief secretary visited the under-construction flyover at Qasimabad and inspected development work.