RAWALPINDI, July 19: Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Illahi on Saturday ordered probe into the delay in the completion of Nullah Leh expansion project, which has not only caused financial losses to the provincial government but also damaged its credibility among international donors.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded project was expected to be completed by March this year, but the deadline could not be met and the Punjab government had to seek an extension. The project is still incomplete and the contractors have told the government that it would be ready for handover by September.

“All those found guilty of causing the delay in the completion of the project will be strictly proceeded against,” the chief minister said, adding that the government or the people could not be made to pay for the mistakes of others.

The investigations will be conducted by the chairman of the chief minister’s inspection team.

Speaking in a meeting held to review the progress on the project, the chief minister expressed his annoyance over the inability of the officials to get the project completed on time and reprimanded them for their lax attitude towards the project.

A similar inquiry was held earlier this year to determine the causes of the delay. Though the report is yet to be made public, sources claimed that it had held some senior officials responsible.

The ADB has, time and again, warned the district and provincial governments against possible delay in the completion of the project.

While conveying its apprehension about the delay, the bank has been calling for an aggressive and active role of the provincial government to avoid a delay. However, the authorities had been adamant that the deadline would be met in any case, but ultimately they failed to do so.

Under the project, three bridges would be constructed over the Nullah Leh at Pirwadhai, Dhoke Chiragdin and Gawalmandi, besides widening, desilting and deepening of the nullah course. Other works under the project include dredging, stone-pitching, construction of the wall along the course of the nullah and its channelization.

The chief minister said that the action against the delay in completion of the project would serve as a precedent and the government would take similar action against delay in other projects in the province.

The chief minister said he considered the failure to timely execute a project as serious an offence as a financial embezzlement.

He said in future the on-time completion of a project would be given the same importance as the quality of work so that people could fully benefit from the welfare projects.

Earlier in a briefing, officials informed the chief minister that the Pirwadhai bridge would be completed by July 31 at a cost of Rs42 million, while work was in progress on Gawalmandi and Dhoke Chiraghdin bridges at a cost of Rs36 million and Rs19 million, respectively.

They said a total of Rs480 million had, so far, been disbursed among 1,072 affectees of the project.