LAHORE, March 16: A senior official of the World Bank has assured uninterrupted supply of resources to the Punjab government provided it continued to effectively monitor the execution of all development projects.
World Bank's Vice-President for South Asia Praful C. Patel gave the assurance during a meeting with Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi here on Tuesday. Pervaiz Elahi and his team of ministers and senior officials briefed Mr Patel on various development projects related to agriculture, irrigation, education and health sectors.
The World Bank official was informed that units had already been created in every project for the close monitoring of its quality, and timely completion. Mr Patel said the biggest problem of Pakistan was the wastage of its water which was thrown into the sea without proper utilization. The Punjab government must consider storage of the water which it needed the most for its crops, he said.
The chief minister said his government was already addressing the issue and intended to build village reservoirs in rain-fed areas. It had already built some small dams in areas facing scarcity of water, he said.
Minister for Health Dr Tahir Ali Javed said his department was improving nursing system and providing free service in the emergency wards of all major hospitals.
The vital ambulance service would be launched initially in Lahore in two months. It would be extended to other districts after the success of the pilot project in Lahore, he said.
The chief minister said the service would give far-reaching benefits to the people. One could not serve the ailing people with modern machinery and abundant medicines if there was no arrangement to timely take them to the hospitals, he said.
The government was importing international standard ambulances for the service. The pilot project of health system of Rahim Yar Khan would also be extended to other provinces under a phased programme.
Earlier, Pervaiz Elahi said it had been decided to reorganize educational institutions and chief minister's monitoring programme to ensure implementation of the new education policy.
He said he would conduct surprise visits of schools in different districts to get the desired results of the Punjab education sector reforms programme. The government would ensure utilization of funds allocated for the education programme only for the purpose and no slackness in this regard would be tolerated by any institution or official.
