QUETTA, Dec 1: Chief Minister Jam Yousuf has expressed dismay over delay in implementation of various development projects under the drought rehabilitation package for the province.

He also took serious notice of the non-implementation of the government policy regarding improvement in administrative discipline and said he would not tolerate such attitude of officials of departments concerned.

Presiding over a meeting here on Wednesday, he warned that strict action would be taken against officials who were responsible for delaying implementation of uplift projects. He directed the officials concerned to ensure completion of the projects in time.

The chief minister said that people had a lot of expectations from elected representatives and the present government was determined to solve their problems. He said he would not tolerate any hurdle.

Mr Yousuf said the government's prestige was badly affected due to negligence and non-cooperative attitude of some government officials and they would face strict action in future.

He also criticized a delay in launching the federal government funded water supply project for Quetta. Sources said that the centre had provided Rs8 billion for the project as the provincial metropolis had been hit by shortage of potable water.

The project was approved in the year 2000 and was to be completed in three phases, but it could not be implemented owing to various reasons. The sources said that in the last meeting of the National Security Council the issue of 'Great Quetta Water Supply Project' also came under discussion and President Gen Pervez Musharraf took notice of the delay in its implementation. He directed immediate work on the project.

The chief minister said that project consultant should immediately hand over the project design to the construction company. The sources said that construction of two dams near Quetta were also included in the project for which Rs1.63 billion had been allocated while Rs1.36 billion would be spent on new sewerage system.

Another amount of Rs115 million would be spent on replacing 336-km long damaged pipelines for improving water distribution system in the provincial capital. They said that with the completion of the project, Quetta would get about 26 million-gallon of water daily whereas the need was 25 million gallon water per day.

The chief minister directed the officials concerned to give the government correct reports regarding implementation on the development projects and reasons of delay in launching work on them so steps should be taken to remove the bottlenecks.

The secretaries of irrigation, public health, agriculture and communication departments gave briefings to the chief minister about the development projects launched by their departments in the province.

Mr Yousuf asked them that in the remaining available resources, the development schemes proposed by opposition members should be approved and implemented and those projects should be given preference, which could be completed in short time.

Finance Minister Syed Ehsan Shah, Chief Secretary Mohammad Naeem, the planning and development additional secretary and other officers also attended the meeting.