Rs111m for wall around President's Naudero house?

ISLAMABAD - President Asif Ali Zardari is not different from his predecessor General (Retd) Musharraf on the issue of his personal security as he is asking for some Rs 111 million of taxpayers' money on erecting a wall around his personal residence at Naudero, Sindh. Ministry of Housing and Works is proposing the project of constructing security wall around the temporary official residence of the President at Naudero, District Larkana, Sindh to be taken up in the meeting of Central Development Working Party here tomorrow. The cost of construction of the RCC boundary wall around Zardari's native residence is estimated to be Rs 110.743 million. No doubt, he is the prime target of the militants loyal to Al Qaeda but he has already been provided a foolproof security residence, fully guarded, at the Constitution Avenue that is almost a no-go area for common people. Following the Marriot Hotel suicide attack, the present regime tried to float an idea of constructing a huge boundary wall around the Red Zone area in federal capital, to cut this part from the rest of the city. The idea, however, was dropped due to severe criticism from different quarters. Instead of erecting the boundary wall, the government was advised to install security cameras and scanners on all the entry points to the Red Zone. According to well-placed sources, the CDWP will discuss the Naudero project along with another one of renovation of Aiwan-e-Sadr (Phase 1) at an estimated cost of Rs 82.7 million. The meeting is likely to take up some 57 items agenda including construction of a new block at Secretariat at an estimated cost of Rs 3.5 billion, project on security arrangements at Parliament House at an estimated cost of Rs 98.1 million, construction of headquarters of Frontier Constabulary and Lines at Islamabad to cost around Rs 229.5 million and also construction of Federal Lodge at Nawab Shah with Rs 97.5 million cost. The CDWP will also discuss other projects in different sectors including transport and communications, water resources, energy, housing sector, higher education, social welfare, women development, mass media, health, industries and commerce.

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