Curtail non-development expenditures: Shahbaz

LAHORE-Punjab Chief Minister, Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has said that for the development projects government land should be acquired instead of spending funds on purchasing private land so that maximum funds can be utilised on these projects and that this policy should be strictly implemented throughout the province. Expressing his satisfaction with the implementation of development projects and utilisation rate of funds, he directed the departments that pace of work of the projects should be further accelerated so that people can benefit from these projects as early as possible. He said that non-development expenditure should be reduced by adopting financial discipline and at least Rs15 billion should be saved through curtailing these expenses.
He was addressing a high level meeting held to review the pace of implementation on Annual Development Programme at Chief Minister’s Secretariat, here Saturday in which implementation on various projects under ADP and utilisation rate of funds were reviewed in detail. Senator Ishaq Dar, Senior Adviser Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khan Khosa, Law Minister Rana Sana Ullah Khan, Finance Minister Tanvir Ashraf Kaira, Provincial Minister Dost Muhammad Khosa, MPAs, Chief Secretary, Additional Chief Secretary, officials of Planning & Development Department and other provincial secretaries attended the meeting.
The chief minister said that a comprehensive strategy has been evolved for provision of basic amenities to the people and rapid development of the province. He said that more than 96 per cent schemes have been approved under ADP so far and funds of Rs.131 billion have been released for these projects till January 31 which is a record. He said that no delay will be tolerated in public welfare projects and all departments should ensure timely and transparent completion of these projects at all cost. He directed to immediately start the work on the project of medical college in Gujranwala. While taking notice of delay in the project of District Headquarters Hospital Bahawalpur, he said that steps should be taken for early completion of this project.
He said that attention should be paid for hiring services of new consultants instead of depending upon Nespak for speedy completion of development projects and concerned departments should leave no stone unturned for achieving the targets of receipts so that the funds obtained through these receipts could be utilised on development projects. He said that huge loss is caused to national exchequer by plundering receipts at large scale in Excise & Taxation Department and Board of Revenue and it is essential to purge these departments of corrupt elements without which departments cannot achieve their targets of revenue collection.