January 11, 2003	Saturday	Ziqa'ad 7, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Jan 10: The government has so far failed to release a sum of Rs500 million allocated for the uplift projects, commissioned in the capital under the Khushal Pakistan Programme (KPP), an official of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) told Dawn.

Owing to the non-availability of funds, the KKP is adversely affected in Islamabad as all 217 development schemes launched under the KPP are stated to in doldrums.

Talking to this reporter on Friday, the ICT assistant director, Mian Akram, said a total of 217 uplift schemes had been launched and tenders amounting to Rs332 million were floated under the programme.

Later, tenders were accepted and contractors started the projects which include re-carpeting and construction of roads, electricity supply to villages and water supply schemes etc.

The ICT administration requested the government for allocation of funds to initiate the projects, and the chief executive secretariat allocated a grant of Rs500 million for the uplift schemes, under the KPP for the fiscal year 2002-03.

However, the ICT administration had not received a single penny even after the lapse of first six months of the current financial year.

The official said, earlier, Islamabad was ignored by the government while allocating funds for all provinces of the country under the KPP.

The official said all matters related to the ICT were being looked after by the ministry. Similarly, correspondence with other government departments and ministries was being done by the interior ministry.

He said the interior ministry had failed to pursue the matter in better way and the ministry of finance was not being asked to release the allocated amount to the ICT administration.

Similarly, last year a total of over 200 million were allocated for the uplift projects in Islamabad, out of which only Rs190 million were released.

Meanwhile, sources said some of the projects of roads, streets and water supply had been stopped due to financial constraints.

Residents of the ICT have started approaching the officials concerned and demanding early completion of suspended projects.

They informed the ICT officials that the people of their areas were facing problems owing to dug-up roads, streets and non-availability of water.