Staff Reporter
Peshawar
A Mid-year review meeting to take stock of the progress including fund utilization on the developmental projects of the Annual Development Program (ADP) 2020-21 was held here with Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan in the chair. Besides Chief Secretary Dr. Kazim Niaz and Additional Chief Secretary, Shakil Qadir, the meeting was attended by administrative secretaries of all the provincial departments.
The meeting was given detailed briefings about the progress made so far by various departments on their respective developmental schemes, status of fund release for the these projects and current status of fund utilization by these departments. The meeting was informed that during the current financial year a total developmental fund of more than 79.00 rupees had been released to various departments so far which is the highest amount released during the first two quarters in the last five years. It was further informed that the overall fund utilization ratio during the first two quarters of the current financial year had been quite satisfactory as compared to that of the first two quarters of last years.
The Chief Minister while expressing his satisfaction on the overall status of fund utilization, directed the concerned high ups to further improve the fund utilization and ensure cent percent fund utilization by the end of the current financial year. He termed the timely completion of developmental projects without compromising the quality and quantity of work as one of the top priorities of his government and directed all the administrative secretaries specially those of the Works Departments to black list the contractors involved in substandard work, and to suspend the concerned supervising officials.
The chair further directed the departments to give special attention to the reports of Monitoring and Evaluation Cell generated regarding the developmental projects, and to take immediate steps to remove the deficiencies in the developmental schemes as pointed out in the monitoring report adding that otherwise actions would be taken against the responsible ones. Mahmood Khan directed the quarters concerned to immediately finalize the PC-Is of all mega developmental projects reflected in Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) and submit the same to the relevant forum for approval, and to take necessary steps to start physical work on all the PSDP projects already approved.
He particularly directed that at least 50 percent progress should be ensured on D.I Khan Motorway and CRBC project during the next two years further directing that progress report on these projects be submitted on monthly basis. Briefing about the fund utilization status by the various departments, the meeting was informed that Environment Department was top of the list with 100 percent performance whereas Home Department with the 75 percent performance stood second with regard fund utilization during the first two quarters of the current financial year. The meeting was further informed that a total of 839 developmental schemes were due for completion in the province and most of these DFC projects would be completed till the end of current financial year.
The forum was also briefed about the approval status of new developmental schemes by the various provincial departments and informed that so far a total of 300 developmental projects have been approved by the relevant forums during the current financial year adding that 199 projects were approved by PDWP, 94 projects by DDWP whereas five mega projects were approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC). It was further informed that 1943 monitoring reports on developmental projects were generated during the last six months.
