While 75 per cent plots have already been occupied, construction of the remaining 1,500 houses is progressing rapidly.
Three sites - Hawkesbay, Taiser and Baldia, have been selected for resettlement of the more than 15,000 units affected by the project.
Allotments at Hawkesbay have been completed. At the second site- sectors 35 and 36 in Taiser Town- some 600 units have received their compensation packages of 80-sq-yd plots, and facilitation cheques for Rs50,000.
Official sources said that over 1200 additional families were to be given their compensation packages within the next fortnight. These families are now starting construction of their houses.
At the site, work on major and internal roads, supply of electricity, sewage system, shopping centres, school buildings have been completed and the water supply is presently being arranged courtesy Pakistan Rangers through community tanks located at the site.
Work on the waterline for the area is being laid, after which the temporary water supply arrangement will cease to continue.
A dispensary, functioning in a completed portion of the under-construction government clinic, is providing urgent medical facility to the residents, an ambulance provided by Edhi Foundation is available round the clock and transports serious cases to major city hospitals.
In surveying the population to be shifted, every effort is being made to maintain transparency. The project management has initiated a greenery campaign at the Hawkesbay resettlement site with the plantation of coconut, lignum and Neem trees along the main roads and in the six parks/playgrounds that have been completed, out of a total of nine parks and three playgrounds planned at the site. Over 2,500 families currently residing at the site have also been encouraged to plant trees in and around their houses. Construction work of 15 primary/high schools is continuing with speed. A market has been established for sale of construction material.—APP