HYDERABAD, June 29: District Nazim Dr Makhdoom Rafiquzzaman has provided Rs100,000 as financial assistance to the Sindh High Court Bar Association, Hyderabad.

The nazim handed over a cheque to the association's president, Hakim Ali Siddiqui, during his visit to its secretariat on Monday.

Speaking on the occasion, the nazim said the district government was working for development of Hyderabad. He said the government had approved an uplift plan for Hyderabad under package announced by the president.

He said Rs1 billion had been earmarked by the Sindh government for the plan in the 2004-05 budget. He hoped the project would be implemented during the current year. The nazim said out of the package of Rs10.5 billion, Rs7.5 billion would be spent on development of City, Latifabad and Qasimabad talukas and the remaining amount on uplift of the district's rural talukas.

He said a master plan for Hyderabad had already been prepared in which priority had been given to schemes of water supply, sewerage and communication facilities. Responding to a question, Mr Rafiquzzaman said he had proposed constitution of a technical committee, comprising one representative each from public utility departments, technocrats and public, to ensure integrated development.

Answering a question about water supply and sewerage in the city, he said the problem could not be resolved unless the future of the Hyderabad Development Authority was decided. He said the district government also planned major road schemes.

The nazim observed that the district government was experiencing difficulties in implementation of development schemes due to delay in release of funds but he was in contact with the Sindh government to get lapsed funds re-validated.

Among others, association general-secretary Abdul Majeed Bhatti and advocates Qazi Sattar, Allah Bachayo Soomro, Ayaz Latif Palijo, Anwar Memon were present on the occasion.

Meanwhile, speaking on the occasion of singing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Partner Private Schools and the Sindh Education Forum at a hotel here on Monday, Mr Rafiquzzaman stressed the need for capacity building of school teachers to ensure qualitative education and to eliminate the prevailing education gap between rural and urban areas.

The MoU is meant to support private educational institutions in improving the standard of education, especially in areas where government schools are not available. The nazim said the district government was planning to provide better training to school teachers and added that English language would be given priority.