Ijaz Kakakhel Islamabad
A parliamentary committee on Tuesday decided to check PSDP projects, over Rs2 billion along with their ageing and cost analysis with regards to dollar fluctuations was also taken up. The decision was taken in a senate standing committee on Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, which was held at parliament house while Senator Saleem Mandviwalla was on chair.
The committee decided to hold another meeting where representatives of each division and concrete report on the delay of project should be discussed. The committee decided that the meeting will commence from the NHA projects in presence of the representations from the NHA division, the Planning Commission and the Ministry of finance.
The Ministry advised that a FiFo method should be adopted to thoroughly study the details of the ageing projects from approx. 2011. The committee also questioned on the large number of projects given to the Finance Division and the foreign aided projects and sought details. The Ministry informed the committee that lack of cancellation policies is also one of the reasons the projects are not completed. “No project is ever cancelled” the Ministry stated.
The Committee put forward the recommendations to introduce the policy of cancellation through the FiFo method. The committee was informed that the total number of PSDP Projects 2021-22 are 1,155 with a total cost of Rs9,422 Billion. The expenditure up to 30-06-2021 is Rs2,886 billion with a throw forward up to 01-07-2021 is Rs6,537 billion and allocation 01-07-2021 is Rs900 billion. The Ministry also informed the committee on the PSDP utilization 2021-22 with a total of Rs900 billion out of which Rs100 billion are foreign aid.
