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Business Recorder
a day ago
- Business
- Business Recorder
Rs40bn uplift plans for Bahawalpur division approved
LAHORE: The Punjab Local Government and Community Development Department has approved development schemes worth over Rs 40 billion for four cities in Bahawalpur division which include Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalnagar and Hasilpur. In this regard, Punjab Local Government Minister Zeeshan Rafiq chaired a meeting; Punjab Local Government Secretary Shakeel Ahmed Mian, Special Secretary Asia Gul and Additional Secretary Ahmer Kaifi were present in the meeting while the Commissioner Bahawal-pur, concerned deputy commissioners and municipal officers participated through a video link. While addressing the meeting, the Minister said that under the supervision of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, continuous progress is being made in the Punjab Cities Development Programme. He urged the deputy commissioners to pay special attention to the master planning of the cities; 'the deputy commissioners will be responsible for completing the projects under the Punjab Cities Development Progra-mme,' he added. He further said that under this mega project, not only will the existing infrastructure be restored in the cities, but it will also be further expanded. 'Programme Implemen-tation Units (PIUs) will be formed to ensure quality work in each scheme, while Punjab Municipal Development Fund Company (PMDFC) will be responsible for third-party validation,' he added. He added that special attention should be paid to the construction of parks, street lights and rainwater storage tanks. He also directed the officials to review the cantonment areas of Bahawalpur, stressing if there is any dirt road or broken road in the cantonment, it should also be taken into consideration. During the meeting, it was decided to increase the capacity and number of disposal stations in Bahawalpur city. The Minister, while directing the deputy commissioner to review PC-1 for Rahim Yar Khan, said that all disposal stations in every city will be shifted to solar energy. 'It is gratifying that solarisation in Bahawalpur alone will save about Rs 20 million on monthly electricity bills. With an annual saving of Rs 240 million, many more civic amenities can be provided,' he observed. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Express Tribune
03-06-2025
- Health
- Express Tribune
Substandard hospital mats seized in Swat
The announcement was made by Professor Syed Mohammad Sultan of the Khyber Teaching Hospital's Psychiatry Department. PHOTO: EXPRESS Anti-Corruption authorities in Swat have taken swift action against a contractor for supplying substandard foam mats to Saidu Group of Teaching Hospital, Saidu Sharif. A total of 180 non-compliant mats were confiscated on-site for failing to meet approved PC-1 specifications. The crackdown followed a citizen complaint filed by Arbab Naveed with the Directorate of Anti-Corruption Establishment, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The contractor was accused of violating procurement rules by delivering poor-quality mats from unauthorized manufacturers. An investigation led by Assistant Director Anti-Corruption Malakand Division, Malik Khan Afsar Khan, confirmed the allegations. The contractor was found guilty of deliberate non-compliance. Authorities gave the contractor one week to replace the substandard items with 320 mats that meet official standards. The directive was fulfilled within the deadline, and the case has now been referred to the Directorate for further legal proceedings.
Business Recorder
30-05-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
66 cities of Punjab to be uplifted in new financial year
LAHORE: Under the Chief Minister Cities Development Programme, the Punjab government has decided to launch development schemes in 66 cities of Punjab in the new financial year. Under this programme, all dirt roads will be paved or repaired, along with the construction and repair of connection roads, and a comprehensive sewage system will be introduced. Moreover, disposal stations will be solarised while sewerage problems will be solved by keeping in mind the needs of the population in 2050. In addition to rainwater drainage, storage tanks will also be built, and restoration of parks will also be included in the project. In this connection, the copies of PC-1 have been sent to the relevant municipal bodies. In this regard, Punjab Local Government Minister Zeeshan Rafiq issued instructions while chairing a meeting through a video link on Thursday. Punjab Local Government Secretary Shakeel Ahmed Mian, Additional Secretary Ahmar Kaifi, PMDFC MD and Deputy Commissioners of various districts participated. The Minister directed the concerned deputy commissioners to keep the model of the Lahore Development Programme in mind while working on the development schemes. He clarified that there will be no additional recruitment for the Cities Development Programme except for technical experts, and thus, only the available human resources will be utilised. 'The Punjab Local Government Department will complete this mega project in collaboration with Public Health Engineering,' he added. Rafiq said that in the next phase, 110 more cities will be included in the programme; in every city, all dirt roads will be paved or repaired, along with the construction and repair of connection roads, and a comprehensive sewage system will be introduced. 'In this connection, the copies of PC-1 have been sent to the relevant municipal bodies,' he added. He said the deputy commissioners have also been made members of the steering committee. He observed that in the past, only partial schemes were completed in cities; however, for the first time, an end-to-end solution for sanitation will be provided. He directed that transparency should be taken care of while implementing the project on the timeline. On this occasion, the Secretary said that e-tendering and digital payment methods should be implemented in the programme. He directed that before the construction of the streets, sui gas, electricity companies and cable network institutions should complete their work. 'After the completion of the work,' he warned, 'digging will be prohibited without the NOC of the district administration.' He said the use of safe and durable sewer pipes is the highlight of this program, adding that the benefits of HTP-lined sewer pipes will last for the next 100 years. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Express Tribune
19-05-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
Govt lags in using development funds
Taxpayers allocating a proportion of their income for their country expect to see the results of their contribution in the form of some development work implemented by the government to improve the quality of life of people in the country. In Sindh, however, development is reduced to a buzzword, with the majority of funds underutilized even as the year ends. With only weeks remaining before the books close, several provincial departments are still issuing tenders for new development schemes, according to sources. In the first week of May alone, the Highways Division of the Sindh government invited tenders for more than 200 projects, including the construction of 125 roads in Umarkot, setting up of a paver block in Larkana alongside the installation of 77 CC drains. It should be noted that the current financial year will end on June 30th and work on the projects will start only in the next financial year. This is because even after these tenders are floated, contracts take time to be awarded and work to begin-making the timely completion of projects within the year a pipe dream. While development funds are often released in scattered tranches, non-development allocations tend to be readily spent. According to figures obtained from the Finance Department, by the first week of May, Rs1,477 billion out of Rs1,925 billion allocated for non-developmental expenditures, had been released to provincial departments, which ended up spending 88 per cent of this amount. On the contrary, out of the Rs959 billion budget allocated to provincial departments for development projects, Rs571 billion was released, of which only 69 per cent was utilized. An official from the Finance Department, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that provincial departments spent a large chunk of the development budget on ongoing schemes, while very little was spent on new schemes. "Since there is no need to complete new formalities for ongoing schemes, it is easy for departments to spend money on existing projects. However, it is difficult to spend on new development schemes since it takes a long time for them to complete all the formalities," explained the official. Dr Kaiser Bengali, a renowned economist, highlighted various technical reasons behind the underutilization of development funds. "Funds are allocated in the budget for new development projects, but the financial year is spent completing their formalities. Any new development project has to go through various stages from approval and preparation of PC-1 to the release of funds. This process often takes a long time hence its implementation is delayed. The relevant institutions of the provincial government should include in the budget only those development schemes for which PC-1 has already been prepared. This will reduce the amount of time taken to implement them," opined Dr Bengali. The problem of timely utilization of funds is not limited to the funds allocated by the provincial government since the allocation received by the Sindh government from the federal government too is not utilized in a timely manner. This can be gauged from a report published by the Auditor General of Pakistan regarding the non-utilization of Zakat funds. Every year, the federal government distributes the funds collected in the form of Zakat to all the provinces, which are obliged to spend this money on the deserving people. With this money, financial assistance must be provided to the impoverished households in the provinces by giving them subsistence allowances. This amount should also be spent on the welfare of orphans, treatment of poor patients and scholarships for underprivileged students at universities. According to the report, the federal government provided Rs4.63 billion as Zakat to Sindh during the financial year 2021-22. However, despite the passage of a whole year, the provincial government spent only Rs850 million on public welfare.
Business Recorder
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Business Recorder
KP solar panel project example of corruption: Azma
LAHORE: Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari has said that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government's solar panel project is a clear example of corruption, commission mafia, and a lack of transparency. The project has reportedly fallen prey to commissions worth two billion rupees. She said that Ali Amin Gandapur announced the project eight months ago, but surprisingly, tenders were issued even before the approval of the PC-1. According to her, public welfare projects in KP either never materialise, or if they do, they become victims of internal disputes among stakeholders. Azma Bokhari asserted that the KP government's entire performance is limited to press statements and political rhetoric, while the province's public funds are being diverted toward protest movements and favored contractors. She further added that slogans like 'Tabdeeli' and 'Tsunami' have turned into a grim joke for the people of KP, resulting in irreparable damage. She remarked that Gandapur's only record consists of three failed attacks on the federal government and Punjab. Bokhari demanded that the federal government immediately audit all funds given to the KP government. She insisted that until the KP government accounts for its previous funds, the federal government should not release even a single penny more. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
