LAHORE: All provincial departments are looking for development schemes which Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif could inaugurate for earning goodwill at the fag end of his tenure in office, but there appears to be not many worthwhile ones available for the purpose.

Officials attribute the dearth of the goodwill earning mega projects mainly to restrictions the government faced in the last leg of its tenure. And they are not sure whether the chief minister will be able to inaugurate a portion of his “prized” development project, Lahore’s Orange Line Metro, before the expiry of his term in office on May 31.

Though the work on the project is being conducted speedily, officials say it is not likely to be completed by May 31. “It got delayed because of litigation and the end-loser may be the chief minister who still wants to blow the whistle for the first journey of the train before embarking on his own journey to the next elections,” a senior official says.

According to insiders, all departments had been asked a few days ago to furnish details of their major development projects. The details should include the location of the projects, their cost, dates of beginning and completion, and a brief description of their importance.

Officials on Sunday said the information had been sought to single out the projects which the chief minister could inaugurate in his remaining days in office.

So far the chief minister has been mainly inaugurating projects of the primary and secondary healthcare department. But officials say they have been too insignificant to attract the masses’ attention.

The Lahore Metro Train, the officials said, was to be completed before the general elections, allowing Shahbaz Sharif to use it to muster more public support. But, after a prolonged litigation, the Supreme Court allowed resumption of the work on the project around six months ago, that too with certain conditions, leaving little time for its completion within the provincial government’s tenure.

The Election of Commission of Pakistan had barred early last month the federal and all the provincial governments from recruitment, except by the public service commissions, and executing development schemes approved after April 1.

The banned schemes included those of installation of gas pipelines, supply of electricity, roads’ carpeting and water supply. The governments, including the local bodies, were also stopped from issuing tenders of such schemes till the conclusion of elections 2018.

The ECP had said the recruitment and development schemes were meant to influence election results.

This restriction badly affected the Punjab government’s plan to have completed the ongoing schemes or announce new ones to impress voters just before going to the polls.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) lifted the ban this week. But the Supreme Court set aside the high court orders before the governments, including the one in Punjab, could heave a sigh of relief.

The officials said following the IHC orders, the authorities in Punjab had approved funds for certain development schemes on Friday last. But it was yet to be seen whether the government could utilise the funds or not in view of the latest Supreme Court orders.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2018