Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar chaired a meeting at his office on Tuesday to review six-monthly progress on the provincial annual development program.
The meeting was told that ADP’s total volume was Rs 350 billion and Rs 42 billion were allocated for public-private partnership based projects. An amount of Rs 183 billion has been released till January 17, 2020, and different provincial departments have utilized Rs 106 billion on different ADP schemes. Meanwhile, the P&D Department has accorded approval to 85 schemes during the last 45 days.
The chief minister directed to expedite work on ADP projects adding that provincial departments should get their schemes approved by January 31, 2020. Any departmental delay, in this regard, will not be tolerated, he warned. The CM maintained that mega projects were being started through a public-private partnership to expedite economic development besides provision of necessary facilities to the people. He directed to ensure timely utilization of ADP funds and observed that an effective monitoring system was imperative in this regard.
ADP targets will be achieved at any cost and action will be initiated against departments failing to achieve their targets. I want practical steps, instead of paperwork and the departments failing to timely utilize their development funds will be liable to be answerable, he added. ‘We are public representatives and answerable to them. Idleness will not help anymore; officers should go into the field to monitor the ADP progress’.
The difference between the on-ground situation and file work will not be tolerated any more, he stated. I will review ADP progress every month, he added. The chief minister said that quality and timely completion of ADP projects should be especially focussed so that the people could take maximum benefit.
The departments should ensure correct and timely utilization of funds and any laziness is not acceptable in this regard. The chief minister also directed to expedite the pace of work on foreign-funded projects for their timely completion. Chairman and Secretary P&D briefed about ADP funds’ utilization and progress on PPP mode schemes.
Advisor Salman Shah, Mussarat Jamshed Cheema MPA, Chief Secretary, Chairman P&D and administrative secretaries attended the meeting.
NUTECH RECTOR KHALID ASGHAR CALLS ON CM PUNJAB: National University of Technology (NUTECH) Rector Khalid Asghar called on Chief Minister Usman Buzdar at his office. Talking on this occasion, the chief minister said that departments’ capacity was being enhanced through the latest technology for improving their service delivery. He said the Punjab government started working on eight new universities and five technical institutes are also being set up to empower the youth through skills-based education. Backward areas have been given preference for setting up new institutions, he added. Technical universities were also being established in Rawalpindi and Rasul; he added and further said that technical education syllabus is being revised.
