KARACHI, May 31: A project director has been appointed for the re-start of impending outer development work in Gulzar-i-Hijri Scheme-33.

Javed Hanif, appointed as the project director, has been asked by the provincial chief secretary, Javed Ashraf Hussain, to begin work within 15 days and with the available amount of Rs80 million.

The chief secretary, while chairing a meeting with a delegation of Gulzar-i-Hijri Federation of Cooperative Housing Societies here on Friday, assured that outer development work at Scheme-33 would soon begin.

He issued directives for the preparation of a summary for the Sindh Governor.

He also advised the federation officials to cooperate with the government and to contribute in the cost by raising some additional funds. This, he said, will be done through revision of outer development charges for cooperative societies.

Chairman of the federation, Asghar Ali, said that the societies can only convince their members for rise in outer development charges if some work is started in the scheme.

The chief secretary asked the project director to start the laying of sewerage lines, water supply pipelines and the construction of roads for which Rs2 billion are required.

It was also decided that a part of the work will be funded from the differential amount of corridor land auction which will be diverted to the scheme after deducting the cost of land.

It was pointed out that revised PC-1 for the work has been prepared and submitted and the cost is estimated at Rs6 billion.

The meeting decided that the Board of Revenue will regularize the cancelled plots of builders after collecting cost of land according to the new rates. Outer development charges will also be collected from them at revised rates.

Similarly, those housing societies which failed to clear their dues will pay charges at revised rates.

It may be noted that about 75,000 allottees of cooperative housing societies who had paid their share of outer development charges and cost of land some 20 years ago, are highly frustrated.

The general secretary of FCHS, M.A. Jaleel, said that allottees will begin construction of their houses if the work begins.

About 9,185 acres of land out of 26,026 acres of total land in Scheme-33 has been allotted for residential purposes.

The societies have paid Rs517.237 million to the BoR, while Rs669.105 million are still outstanding.—APP