Scope of Model Village Program to be expanded to 7500 villages :minister

LAHORE, Apr 04 (APP):A meeting chaired by Minister for Local Government Zeeshan Rafique reviewed the progress on the Model Village Program.

On the instructions of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, the scope of the program was considered to be expanded to 7500 villages. Secretary Local Government Shakeel Ahmed Mian, Special Secretary Asia Gul,

Secretary Coordination to Chief Minister also attended the meeting, while Punjab Rural Municipal Services Company (PRMSC) CEO Khurram Pervez gave a briefing.

Expressing satisfaction over the progress, Minister Zeeshan Rafique said that the cost of Model Village Phase-I has been estimated at Rs555 billion.

“It is hoped that Rs150 billion will be allocated for the Model Village Program next fiscal year 2026-27 budget”, he remarked.

The provincial minister directed the PRMSC to complete Phase One in 18 months saying that Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif wants to provide all possible facilities to villages like cities. “The Punjab government is trying to include at least 50 villages of each provincial constituency in the first phase”, he resigned. He said that “Model Villages” are also part of the “Maryum Nawaz’s Beautiful Punjab” program. “Initially, he went on, “485 villages have been included, while work has also started in 302 villages”.

Zeeshan Rafique said that a dashboard is being created for monitoring the Model Village Program, which will help in monitoring the work of contractors.

He said that about 41,000 ponds will be restored in all 22,986 villages of Punjab in a phased manner. “Cleaning of rural ponds is a unique scheme that will restore the traditional beauty of villages.

Along with the construction of streets, drains, parks, water schemes will also be created in 200 villages”, he observed. During the meeting, the minister also directed the CEO of PRMSC to visit the schemes.