District govt gears up CCBs in city

* Seminar on citizen community boards on July 1

By Amir Nafees

LAHORE: The district government will hold a one-day seminar on citizen community boards (CCBs) on July 1 at the Town Hall to explain hos the public can get involved in development schemes through the CCBs.

District Nazim Mian Amer Mahmood told Daily Times that the district government would achieve one of its major goals with the formulation of CCBs. He said he was satisfied with the performance of councillors, but the CCBs would help make Lahore a model city.

He said that the CCBs were necessary even if the councillors were doing well because public participation played a key role in development.

Mr Mahmood said the CCBs would help the district government resolve the problems of common people. He said the district government had set aside Rs 252 million that would be spent through the CCBs. He said that Rs 15 million of Rs 252 million had already been released.

He said the allocation of Rs 252 million to the CCBs was almost equal to half of the total development budget of the district government. He said the district government would bear 80 percent expenses of a development scheme in case the local population provided for the initial 20 percent expense.

The district nazim said 84 citizen community boards consisting of philanthropists, social workers and non-elected people had so far been registered in the city. He said that funds released to the CCBs would be used to build roads, poverty alleviation, the extension of school buildings and skill development programmes for youth.

Mr Mahmood said a special cell had been set up at the Community Development Department of the district government to encourage the establishment of CCBs and to assist them in helping communities help themselves.

He said the cell was providing technical support and professional guidance with respect to formulating project proposals, scrutinising their feasibility and preparing cost estimates. The cell officials were also monitoring completed and ongoing CCB projects non-intrusively, he said.

The district nazim said Social Welfare Department officials were being trained to teach the officials of non-government organisations and other CCB stakeholders.

He said they had also published a booklet containing guidelines for the registration and formulation of development schemes relating to CCBs.

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