Punjab Minister for Local Government Zeeshan Rafique said that master planning of 37 districts and 128 tehsils of the province had been completed. Chairing a meeting regarding PSPA at the Civil Secretariat, he said that training of Artificial Intelligence (AI) system of the Punjab Special Spatial Planning Authority (PSPA) was underway. With time, the AI would automatically improve its monitoring standards, he added.The Minister said the land use plans and zoning work had also been completed in the province.

"Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has directed to creating Pakistan’s first satellite surveillance system", he revealed.He said that new construction activities would be detected every month through the PSPA system. "PSPA has developed, he went on, an entire digital ecosystem.The work is also being done on classification of satellite imagery". He said that a PSPA representative was being posted in every Deputy Commissioner’s office.Zeeshan Rafique said the process of approval of housing schemes had become easier with the formation of PSS.

"Protection of agricultural and forest land is the focus of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. That's why PSPA has been formed under the same vision of the Chief Minister", he remarked.Expressing satisfaction over the formation of Punjab Geospatial Platform, the provincial minister directed the DG PSPA to work with the Punjab Information Technology board (PITB) to make features of the portal further easier.Special Secretary Development Asia Gul and Additional Secretary Quratul Ain also attended the meeting while PSPA Director General Abdullah Nayyar briefed the minister.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)