PESHAWAR: Opposition lawmakers in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday came hard on the provincial government over release of ‘meagre’ funds to them, which, he said, has brought development projects across the province to a standstill.

“The contractors are upset by the release of a small portion of the total funds and have stopped the execution of their respective development projects,” Mehmood Bittani told the house.

Mr. Bittani, who belongs to the JUI-F, said the provincial government should not keep lawmakers and people in the dark about its financial crisis and instead, it should clearly announce whether it has funds or not.

The debate on the minimum fund releases took place during the question hour.

The assembly was in session after a break of 40 days. The least session took place on Oct 26.

Mufti Fazl Ghafoor of the JUI-F told the house that a water scheme was reflected in the 2016-17 Annual Development Programme with a total allocation of Rs230 million but just Rs5 million had been released for it so far during the current fiscal.

Opposition insists uplift projects at a standstill across the province

He wondered how the contractors would work on development schemes having huge budgetary allocations but getting meagre subsequent releases.

The lawmaker said contractors had stopped work on many schemes due to the release of meagre funds.

Another JUI-F member, Munawar Khan, claimed the provincial government was short of funds.

He said some official sources insisted the provincial government had been working on a plan to shift all funds to the constituencies of some influential ministers in the name of re-appropriation of development funding.

Responding to the lawmakers’ observations, adviser to the chief minister on communication and works department Akbar Ayub said the finance department was responsible for small fund releases.

“We ask the finance department to release the maximum funds but it doesn’t comply,” he said.

The opposition members alleged irregularities during the construction of Bab-i-Peshawar flyover, work on which was completed a year ago at a cost of Rs1.67 billion.

ANP parliamentary leader Sardar Hussain Babak said neither the project was advertised in the newspapers nor was it awarded to the contractor through open bidding.

“There’s no need for the flyover as the area has never seen traffic jams,” he said.

Without naming names, Mr. Babak alleged that the project was executed to benefit some individuals at the taxpayers’ money.

He said the flyover’s construction had reduced the width of an international highway leading to Afghanistan and Central Asia to ten and a half feet.

Lawmaker Uzma Khan said the flyover’s construction was the misuse of the people’s money as there was no use of the flyover, especially its upper part.

“There’s no need for this flyover,” she insisted.

Local government and rural development minister Inayatullah Khan said the department was not required to float tenders in newspapers if it decided to give a project to the National Logistic Cell.

He claimed under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public Procurement Regulatory Authority rules, projects could be given to government agencies without advertisement and bidding.

To a question of MPA Azam Khan Durrani, the local government department informed the house in a written reply that Rs8.81 million had been spent on the repairs of the official residence of the Peshawar Development Authority director general.

In reply to a question of JI member Azazul Mulk, the communication and works department said ‘many nonfunctional vehicles of different types’ had been parked in the open for years.

He said many nonfunctional vehicles of other departments had also been rusting away as the government neither repaired nor auctioned them.

The question was later referred to the house’s relevant standing committee for detailed discussion.

Parliamentary secretary on law Arif Yousaf tabled the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Boilers and Pressure Vessels Bill 2016 in the house.

Deputy Speaker Professor Mehr Taj Roghani later adjourned the session until Tuesday (today).

Published in Dawn December 6th, 2016