P&D department told to expedite progress reports

The Sindh Finance Department has made it clear to the Planning and Development (P&D) Department to expedite submission of progress report in respect of the ongoing development projects, or forget further release of funds, as many departments have yet to account for funds already released to them.
Sources told Business Recorder on Wednesday that it had become a matter of habit for some departments that they try to avoid submission of quarterly progress reports regarding implementation status of development projects, and wait till last moment when there is very little time to examine these reports and carry out corrections.
The development projects, some of them getting foreign funding, are being financed on the basis of their implementation status. Most of foreign funding comes on the basis of expenditure statement only. Delay in submission of reports, expenditure statement, and implementation status, causes delay in getting funds from the donors, which ultimately frustrates all efforts to complete the projects in time.
Sources said that M A Jalil, Adviser on Finance, has taken notice of delays in submission of progress reports and has instructed all such departments, which have undertaken development projects a bit late during the current fiscal year, to realise the necessity of timely submission of reports.
It has been impressed upon these departments that once the donors get irritated, it becomes difficult to bring them back on 'track' as they begin to raise probing questions and, on many occasions, question the integrity of implementing agencies.
Sources said that the Adviser has raised questions about the ongoing development projects in the education and irrigation and works departments from where progress reports are still awaited when the financial year is about to close. In the meantime, the P&D department has begun to consolidate its report on development projects.
It is expected to exceed Rs 32 billion allocations made in the provincial ADP provided quarterly reports and implementation status reports are received in time by the P&D and the finance department and funds are released to them in time.
Sources said that there is general thinking in the P&D Department to ask for more funds for development activities, but delay in timely completion of projects and compilation of various reports would frustrate this desire.