Punjab: 60pc uplift funds released in first three months of fiscal year

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Jawwad Rizvi
The Punjab government has released Rs 108 billion for development projects in the first three months of this fiscal year which is over 62 per cent of total allocated amount of Rs 175 billion in Annual Development Plan (ADP).

According to an official handout released here, Provincial Minister for Finance and Planning & Development Tanvir Ashraf Kaira said the government had ensured the timely release of funds for development project and, in this connection, the finance department had been issued directions. He stated the departments concerned should ensure that released funds were utilized timely on development projects and quality of work ensured.

He said that a mechanism should be prepared to remove any hurdle in the implementation of the development projects.

He said that the responsibility to monitor the uplift projects had been shifted to the divisional commissioners and the whole system, from identification to execution of development schemes, had been decentralized so that uplift projects could be reviewed on the spot by the authorities concerned. However, sources in the Punjab Finance and P&D departments revealed that no such development had taken place. They said so far the initial documentation of the development projects was not completed. How the government could release such huge amounts of Rs 108 billion within three months out of total allocated amount Rs 175 billion for Annual Development Plan (ADP), when the PC-I and other documentations of the development projects were not completed, they asked.

May be, the minister had issued instructions for speedy development work and timely release of funds and the finance department could also release it, they said, adding the utilization of funds, not just release, was the success of the government.

The Punjab finance minister, in his handout, stated that the provincial government had decided to evolve an effective monitoring system to speed up the work on development projects so that public welfare projects could be completed in time.

The minister expressed these views while presiding over a high level meeting to review the work on development project at Planning & Development department. Planning and Development Board chairman Sami Saeed and other high ranking officers attended the meeting, the handout said.

The News tried to contact Planning and Development Board chairman for comments but he was not available.

On the other hand, Finance secretary Traiq Pasha, when contacted, said over Rs 108 billion had been released under ADP so far. He said the funds were released to the departments concerned according to the scheme put up by the respective departments. When asked about utilization of the funds, he said it did not come under his portfolio.

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