PESHAWAR, Jan 20: The city government would soon receive funds from the federal government for the installation of 400 tubewells and transformers in the district.

This was announced by District Nazim Azam Afridi while speaking at the city district council session here on Tuesday. Convener Dr Iqbal Khalil presided over the session.

The Nazim said that during his referendum campaign in May 2001, President Pervez Musharraf had announced a special package for Peshawar, which included schemes for provision of Sui gas and installation of tubewells and power transformers.

The Nazim said he received a letter on behalf of the president on Monday, stating that funds would be provided for the installation of 200 tubewells and 200 transformers of 200kv each in the district.

He expressed optimism that the installation of transformers and tubewells would solve the problems of power fluctuation and shortage of drinking water in the district. He informed the council that work on the new schemes would start next month.

Mr Afridi said under the president's package Sui gas connections would be provided in the entire district, saying the project required approximately Rs1,500 million.

Highlighting last year's performance of the city government, he said work on various development schemes was in progress which would be completed during the stipulated period.

He claimed that despite a tug-of-war between the provincial government and the district Nazims and limited resources, the city district government had obtained remarkable achievements last year.

Mr Afridi requested the chair to constitute a standing committee to pursue resolutions passed by the district council. He said the members should table their resolutions on merit.

Leader of the pressure group in the council Arbab Tariq on a point of order suggested that the council should constitute a 12-member committee to evaluate performance of the district government every month and submit its report to the convener office. Earlier, convener Dr Iqbal Khalil said the government departments had responded to only 15 out of 78 resolutions passed unanimously by the district council in the previous year.

He said the department had failed to act upon the council's resolutions and did not bother to respond, despite reminders. He said performance of the monitoring committees remained poor during previous year and added that the National Reconstruction Bureau had been requested to expand role of the monitoring committees.