DHA GB reviews progress on current development

December 21, 2009
By Irfan Aligi

KARACHI: The annual meeting of DHA Governing Body (GB) was held under arrangements Defence Housing Authority on Sunday to review the development projects and other policy matters of DHA at macro level.

Defence Secretary, Lt. Gen Syed Athar Ali (retd), who is also Chairman Governing Body DHA presided the meeting.

The GB approved DHA’s annual budget for the fiscal year 2009-2010. A record amount of Rs 7.73 billion has been earmarked in the budget for various development projects this year.

DHA administrator Brig. Khalid Tirmizi presented the progress report and reiterated that the Housing Authority was poised to move forward with a vision and a well-defined strategy to ensure that DHA remains a versatile organization ready to perform.

The Chairman urged DHA to approach the mega and special projects with positive approach and to move forward on a fast track basis to maintain the credibility of the organization.

He directed DHA to complete the work of Gizri Flyover including installation of sound barriers and road lights on Gizri Bridge and refurbishment of surrounding roads around the flyover at the earliest.

The GB expressed satisfaction over the efficacy and working of newly laid drains in DHA, which speedily drained the rainwater during the last monsoon rains.

The GB was informed that the infrastructure development work in the upcoming DHA City on Super Highway would commence from Dec 2010 onwards after undertaking town planning on modern lines.

The meeting was also informed that land usage in the project has been kept in accordance with international standards and envisages approx 40 percent of area for residential purposes and the rest for roads, green spaces, utility services, recreational spots and commercial areas.

The GB was further informed that the stalled DHA Power and Desalination Plant, which was recently made operational with hectic efforts got tripped on a surge due to an unprecedented frequency drop of 7 HZ/Sec in KESC’s Grid System whereas the plant system was designed to sustain a frequency drop of maximum 1 Hz/Sec.

Currently German engineers and Siemens (Pakistan) technicians were working to repair the fault and it was expected that the desalination plant would start its operations by Jan 15, 2010.

The GB was informed that DHA has made computerization, which included computerized archiving and digitization of more than 118,000 plot files, initiation of an updated and revamped interactive DHA Website, setting up of paper free environment for all interoffice communications in DHA and initiation of e-payment for DHA City in future.