LAHORE: The first nodal workshop under the Punjab Spatial Strategy Project (PSS) was held in Gujranwala on Wednesday with an aim to discuss the objectives, timelines, input and output indicators and mechanisms adopted to execute the project.
Gujranwala Additional Commissioner Co-ordination Nauman Hafeez said that such moots would be held in future also to ensure the development of an effective strategy to execute the project.
Faisal Farid of The Urban Unit told the participants that the PSS was a planning tool and some 80 countries around the world had already utilised this tool to get desired results. He said: “We are focusing to face several challenges, including provision of housing, sanitation, education and jobs to people. The PSS objective is to targeting 7-8% economic growth rate, doubling private sector investment, creating over 1 million quality jobs a year and training two million skilled graduates. We will also achieve all millennium development goals (MDGs) and are preparing to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs) also.”
Gujranwala Finance and Planning Additional Deputy Commissioner Touqeer Haider Qazmi said, “This project is the need of the hour. We have to prepare for future planning adopting a result oriented action plan. The local governments are key implementation entities for planning. The PSS will promote coordination in land use and public investment among cities while reducing duplication redundancy of public investments.”
Finance Development Director Abdul Hameed Qasim assured The Urban Unit of all possible cooperation and support for execution of the project. He said identification of local needs would help in designing the strategies. He appreciated The Urban Unit for conducting an informative introductory workshop.
The workshop was attended by Punjab Cities Governance Improvement Programme, Gujranwala, PTCL regional manager, Gujranwala director development and finance, Sialkot additional deputy commissioner, Gujranwala environment inspector, Gujranwala, additional commissioner, assistant directors from Gujranwala, Sialkot divisions and Gujrat divisions.
The Punjab Spatial Strategy is a four-year project aimed at gauging the potential of Punjab’s growth corridors and nodes. According to experts, “The project will also help in coordinating the public investment decisions with respect to location of industrial estates, investments in large scale infrastructure projects and municipal infrastructure investments in order to bolster economic growth.”
The nodal workshops will be held in rest of eight nodal cities namely Lahore, Sahiwal, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Multan and Bahawalpur in near future.
