ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday chaired the 46th meeting of the Council of Common Interests here which thoroughly discussed the draft the National Electricity Policy 2021, says Prime Minister Office. It was decided to constitute a committee to further deliberate upon the proposed policy and present the final draft before the CCI in its next meeting on Monday.

The committee comprises finance minister, minister for energy, law minister, SAPM for power and chief ministers of the provinces. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired a meeting of the National Coordinating Committee for Housing, Construction and Development and instructed that the land used for agriculture and forest should not be used for construction under any circumstances.

He also instructed all concerned to get ready for the biggest tree planting campaign in monsoon this year. Federal Minister for Finance Shaukat Tareen, Minister of State Farrukh Habib, Advisor Dr. Ishrat Hussain, Special Assistants Malik Amin Aslam, Dr. Waqar Masood, Dr. Shahbaz Gul, Governor SBP Dr. Raza Baqir, and Chairman New Pakistan Housing Authority Lt. Gen. (R) Anwar attended the meeting.

The chairman CDA informed the meeting that their online portal had been launched and it will be further improved. In addition, a one-window facilitation center is also being set up soon, which will provide land transfer, fee payment and guidance to the citizens.

Revenue records of rural areas of Islamabad are being computerized for which a Land Record Management Information System has been set up. So far, the registration in the record system of 17 positions has been completed.

The surveyor general briefed the meeting on the cadastral mapping of the country. It was told that the mapping of 53 sectors of Islamabad, 35% of Punjab, 56% of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 30% of Balochistan had been completed. Governor SBP said in a short span of time, applications for loans worth Rs89 billion for low cost housing scheme had been received by the commercial banks out of which loans worth Rs30 billion had been approved. Therefore, loan approvals are increasing by 30% per month.

So far, Rs32 billion has been received for the sale of commercial land in New Blue Area and the economic activity worth Rs100 billion has been estimated from the constructions. To make Islamabad greener, it was proposed to plant at least one tree in every house, for which the CDA will provide 200,000 plants free of cost for homes, schools and offices.

Monsoon tree planting is planned for 25,000 acres in Islamabad this year. Work is underway on rainwater conservation to store rainwater to meet the water shortage.