‘Punjab spending Rs600 bn on infrastructure uplift’

LAHORE: Punjab government is spending an accumulated amount of Rs 500 to 600 billion for development of infrastructure which needs more outcome-oriented approach, said Chief Executive Officer Urban Unit Dr Nasir Javed while chairing the consultative session for strengthening the monitoring and evaluation system of Punjab hosted by the Directorate General Monitoring and Evaluation Planning and Development Department at P&D Complex.

Adviser Planning and Development Department Dr Zahir Shah, DG (M&E) P&D Muhammad Asad Khan, member P&D Board Khalid Sultan, national and international stakeholders including Action Aid, All Punjab AIDS Consortium, Unicef, LUMS, PLAN International, ADU, M&E, UNFPA, Urban Unit and others attended the session.

Dr Nasir Javed welcomed the presence of the representatives of academia, implementation partners, and international development organisations and said that the recent dilemma was lack of value addition by less attention towards service sector in the country. He believed that the sector can boost economic growth besides the blend of utilisation of state of the art IT technology.

He asserted that improvement in system and in process is dependent upon continuous change with adaptability. At the session, Dr Nasir appreciated the innovative concept of restructuring inculcated by Dr Zahir Shah besides being grateful to all participants with mutual sharing of their ideas, feedbacks which were based on their expertise.

He predicted: “Innovation would educate us and strengthen us to make a practicable framework.” The presentation was like hardware and implementation by policymaking was the crucial software for that fundamental project, he added.

Earlier, during the consultative session, Dr Zahir Shah, adviser P&DD presented highlights of Monitoring & Evaluation system of Punjab. DG M&E Muhammad Asad Khan and other relevant M&E experts spoke on the occasion.