July 16, 2006	Sunday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 19, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, July 15: The Senate Functional Committee on Problems of Less Developed Areas on Saturday underlined the need of bringing less developed areas of the country at par with the developed areas and called for chalking out viable plans for carrying out development projects in less developed areas.

The committee which met here at the Parliament House under the chairmanship of Senator Mir Wali Muhammad Badini, directed provincial planning and development authorities to expedite work on the projects for which the funds have already been allocated.

The committee made these observations while having a briefing on the development projects in less developed areas. The projects are being carried out by planning and development division in consultation with the provincial departments. The projects are either financed/executed by P&D Division directly or by provincial P&D departments of all the four provinces.

Regarding uplift programmes in Balochistan, officials informed the committee that the federal government has initiated different mega projects at a cost of Rs136.77 billion to bring a socio-economic revolution in Balochistan.

The officials of Sindh P&D department stated that the Provincial government has allocated adequate funds for undertaking the developmental activities in less developed areas and that 2117 schemes with a total outlay of Rs4170.27 million have been completed. The committee was also provided with the detailed figures of the projects carried out in Punjab and NWFP.

Secretary, Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development told the Committee projects in health, education, sanitation, water supply, roads and electricity were being launched on the recommendation of the parliamentarians.

He said that guidelines had been developed for the smooth implementation of the programme.