Provincial Minister for Local Government Mian Mahmood-ur-Rasheed on Friday said the Punjab government was spending billions of rupees to improve the condition of 16 municipal committees of the province. He said that during the last three weeks, the foundation stones of development projects worth Rs 20.37 billion had been laid in Muridke, Kamonki, Jhelum, Wazirabad, Daska, Khanewal, Vehari, Kamalia and Gojra. Presiding over a meeting here, the minister said in the next few weeks, development projects would be started in the remaining seven cities as well. Managing Director of Punjab Municipal Development Fund Company Iftikhar Rasool gave a briefing on World Bank funded Punjab Cities Program (PCP) while the Coordinator of PCP, former minister Ashraf Sohna was also present on the occasion. The minister said that the mega project i.e. PCP was among the first priorities of Punjab government, adding that a scheme of Rs three billion was ready for the construction of Hafizabad’s sewage system. He directed to solve the very old sewerage problem in Jhang and Wazirabad on sustainable basis. He said that the departments concerned should immediately remove the obstacles and complete the PCP schemes in time so that the people could get benefit from them. He said that a project of Rs 630 million was ready for the state of the art water supply for Bahawalnagar city while funds of Rs. 4 billion had been allocated for Burewala uplift. Earlier, Iftikhar Rasool, while giving a briefing to the provincial minister, said that the program coordinator Ashraf Sohna had accelerated the pace of the program and was providing all possible support for its success. He said that PCP was a program worth Rs. 37.33 billion rupees with the support of the World Bank and Local Government Department. The MD further appraised, PC1 of Rs 7.0 billion projects had been approved while PC1 of Rs. 13 billion projects was in the process of approval. On this occasion, way forward and obstacles in the program and their possible solutions were also discussed.