LAHORE: Chief Secretary of Punjab Abdullah Khan Sumbal on Thursday directed all the departments to work hard for transparent and timely utilisation of the development budget, saying that unnecessary delay in projects would not be tolerated.

He gave this instruction while presiding over a meeting held in the P&D Department to review the implementation of the annual development program (ADP).

The P&D officials gave a detailed briefing to the meeting about the allocated development budget, release, and utilization of funds. The meeting was told that 4,556 out of 4,992 schemes have been approved and Rs 334 billion have been released out of the allocated funds of Rs 685 billion.

The chief secretary said it is necessary to achieve the monthly targets related to the utilization of funds for development projects. He stressed that the timeframe from the initiation to the completion of the schemes must be followed. He said the allocated funds should not lapse in any case.

The chief secretary issued orders to the departments for taking immediate steps to get approval for the unapproved schemes and said the progress of the annual development program would be reviewed regularly. He said the P&D department must be informed in case of any roadblocks in the execution of uplift schemes. He also asked the departments to enhance coordination with the P&D board members for progress on delayed schemes.

The additional chief secretary (South Punjab) and secretaries of all departments participated in the meeting.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022