PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Thursday directed for prompt utilisation of funds provided for various development schemes in the merged districts.
“All the departments are responsible to complete the targets within the stipulated timelines, there is no space for the waste of time,” he said. The chief minister was presiding over a progress review meeting on development projects in merged districts, said an official handout.
Adviser to chief minister on merged areas Ajmal Wazir, MPAs Ghazan Jamal, Iqbal Khan, Head of Strategic Support Unit Sahibzada Saeed, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Shahab Ali Shah, administrative secretaries of departments concerned and other relevant high-ups attended the meeting. Mahmood Khan said the next meeting should be called in 15 days to review the details on the physical progress on the schemes and utilisation of released funds.
He asked for a separate meeting on the progress exactly in accordance with ground realities in Health and Education Sectors directing that provision of staff in healthcare institutions and schools of tribal areas should be ensured on war footings.
Earlier, the chief minister was briefed on the progress made so far on development portfolio of newly merged tribal districts, including Accelerated Implementation Plan (AIP), Quick Impact Projects (QIP) and Annual Development Plan (ADP).
For the year 2019-20, the total allocation of merged areas is Rs 83 billion out of which Rs 24 billion have been allocated under current ADP and Rs 59 billion for Accelerated Implementation Projects.
The meeting was informed that Accelerated Implementation Plan is the three-year plan under 10-year tribal decade strategy through which Rs 1,000 billion would be spent in next 10 years while Rs 300 billion have been allocated for three years 2019-2022.
For the financial year 2019-20, Rs59 billion have been allocated across 18 different sectors out of which Rs 10.1 billion are for health and Rs10.692 billion for E&SE Department.
During the first three years, the primary focus will be given to the social sector, Health, Education, Drinking Water, Ihsaas Programme and other projects that have a rapid impact on the life of tribal people. Similarly, Rs5120 million out of the total cost of Rs7620 million are allocated for 10 schemes of Sports, Culture, Tourism & Youth Affairs.
In communication and road sectors, Rs5000 million out of total cost Rs20,000 million have been allocated for a total of 109 schemes. In order to give immediate relief to tribal people, Rs6598 million have also been allocated for three different schemes of relief and rehabilitation department and Rs 850 million for three schemes of Mines & Minerals Department.
