RAWALPINDI, Aug 6: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif has convened a meeting of top government officials on Tuesday for reviewing development work in the scenic Murree Town.

Government officials in Lahore and Rawalpindi, including chairman Planning and Development (P&D), secretary housing, commissioner Rawalpindi division, DCO Rawalpindi, officials of public health, Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) and other revenue staff had been officially informed by the Punjab government to attend the meeting.

The meeting, according to officials, would review the pace of uplift work, particularly the Rs4.4 billion water supply project. Under it, drinking water would be supplied from Jhelum River through “standby power generators” to areas in Murree, including Jhika Gali. It would require nine megawatt electricity.

“Water from Jhelum River will be brought through eight power generators for which a separate grid station will be established. Over Rs700 million have been allocated for the grid station,” Commissioner Rawalpindi Zahid Saeed told Dawn .

But sources in the provincial administration say it was not feasible to pump water from the river, store it in eight storage tanks, and supply it to areas in the hill station, adding it would “consume a lot of electricity”.

Secretary Housing Sohail Amir, whose office is the executing agency for the project, confirmed to Dawn that the project was “quite expensive but permanent source of drinking water”. He added that the meeting chaired by Mr Sharif would finalise how much consumers would be charged after the project is completed.

According to senior bureaucrats, the Murree Town, which also houses the residence of Sharif brothers in Jhika Gali, was the top priority of the Punjab government after Lahore. They say Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had chaired over 20 official meetings in the hill station, apart from his private visits.

Official documents reveal that while Rs3.5 billion have been spent on uplift works in the populous Rawalpindi city, so far nearly Rs10 billion have been spent on the development of Murree, where 17 roads have been constructed against three in Rawalpindi city.

Meanwhile requesting anonymity, key provincial government officials said there has been resentment over the harsh attitude of PML-N chief during an official meeting in Lahore on the walled city project. “I wonder how a politician who holds no pubic office can convene a high level meeting on administrative affairs. Murree and walled city projects have become nightmare for us because unelected people dictate us,” one of the officials commented.

Senator Mushahidullah maintained: “Nawaz Sharif is a party head and he can convene official meetings. Look at Sonia Gandhi who is present in almost every official meeting. Murree is an important station and Nawaz Sharif is concerned about its development.” — Our Reporter