Punjab Chief Minister Najam Sethi presided over a meeting of the provincial cabinet on Tuesday which granted approval to conducting a new survey of property throughout the province.
The cabinet decided that a notice will be published in the newspapers for public awareness before starting the survey.
Provincial ministers, Taxation and Revenue advisor, Punjab chief secretary, provincial secretaries and concerned officers were present in the meeting. Excise & Taxation secretary gave a briefing to the meeting regarding property tax issues while Housing secretary informed about the matters pertaining to Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA).
Addressing the meeting, Sethi said that property survey should be conducted every five years for evaluating the value of property but no such survey has been conducted during the last 12 years. He said that new property survey was essential for assessment of the current value of property.
Sethi said that property survey will start from April 26 will continue till June 30.
Sethi underscored the importance of further improving tenancy laws and directed that practical measures should be taken for this purpose. He said that five-marla houses will continue to remain exempted from the payment of property tax.
The chief minister said that property survey should be conducted in a transparent manner and a third-party audit should also be conducted of the process. He said that action plan evolved for property survey should be fully implemented and effective monitoring of the survey should also be ensured.
The chief minister directed that effective measures should be taken for improving efficiency of all WASA institutions. He said that outsourcing of the recovery of WASA tariff should also be considered. He said that a business plan should be evolved for the WASA’s capacity-building.
He said that funds have been provided to WASA for the purchase of new generators and other requirements and now it was its responsibility to ensure supply of water to the citizens of all areas. He said that in case of shortage of water due to load shedding or any other reason in any area, water should be supplied through tankers.
The Chief Minister set up a committee headed by provincial minister Arif Ejaz for formulating and submitting recommendations regarding capacity-building of WASA and improvement of recovery of tariff as well as other matters.
Housing secretary said that a complaint cell was functioning for addressing the complaints of the people concerning WASA and immediate notice was taken of all such problems. WASA managing director informed the meeting about the water supply situation in the provincial metropolis.
