LAHORE: The delay in completion of various development projects due to overdue approval of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) budget for the year 2018-19 continues hampering the Lahorites’ mobility besides rendering a huge number of construction workers, employees, contractors and vendors jobless.

The situation is worsening by the day while all the affectees, including common people, have started criticising the PTI-led provincial government for its alleged failure to bring about ‘change’ in the country.

“What type of government is this? It has no concern with the life of common people. I wonder how the government, which claimed to give us relief after coming into power, can survive since it has made our life terrible during its first 100 days,” deplored a motorist while talking to Dawn.

“Non-completion of Khayaban-i-Jinnah–a main artery connecting Khayaban-i-Firdausi and Raiwind Road via Shaukat Khanum intersection—despite passing of seven months, is a precedent of the government’s ignorance of the real public issues,” he added.

Halted projects affecting all and sundry

The civil work on various important projects, including the Lahore Orange Line Metro Train Project, rehabilitation and improvement of Khayaban-i-Jinnah (signal-free corridor), Park and Shop Arena (Khayaban-i-Fridausi), 12 sports complexes and some others related to the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) and Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning Agency (Tepa) is on a halt after the contractors/firms demobilised their machinery besides sending thousands of workers homes due to non-payment of funds required for the completion of the remaining work.

“Lahore, in particular, and the country, in general, are in trouble due to non-completion of projects, due to the cut in Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) and abrupt halt in construction activity. Hundreds of thousands of people, who were directly or indirectly linked to the infrastructural growth, are without work for the last six months. They include employees of construction companies, sub-contractors and workers working with plant, machinery and transport, crushers and furnaces and those associated with 30 other miscellaneous industries,” explained a top official of a construction company who preferred anonymity.

“From the business and operation of steel mills to the vegetable sellers, all are losing work due to suspension of construction projects,” he said and appealed to the government to immediately release the dues of the contractors and arrange more funds to finish the remaining work on the projects, including those in Lahore.

According to an official, the annual budget of the LDA was about to be approved in the last meeting of its governing body presided over by the chief minister.

“As the budget was about to be approved, some members started saying that they needed clarity and review. So, the meeting ended without approving the budget,” the official told this reporter.

He said billions of rupees were required to clear payments of contractors, vendors etc and complete the remaining work on the projects pending since long.

When contacted, LDA vice chairman Sheikh Muhammad Imran said he was trying to get the budget approved.

“I admit that hundreds of construction workers have become jobless due to a halt of the projects in Lahore. Besides, the commuters are also suffering.”

Talking about background of the issue, he said in the last meeting of the authority, the members said they had reviewed the budget allocated for completion of the ongoing schemes but they couldn’t review the funds required for payments to the contractors pending since the last fiscal year.

“They said there should also be some provisions for them to get audit of the current and last year’s budgets whenever they required,” Mr Imran added.

Another reason for delay in approval of the budget was distribution of the agenda among members, just couple of hours before the meeting.

The secretary (finance), also member of the LDA’s governing body, sought a week more to study the budget document, he said.

“I cannot approve this budget since I need at least one week to review this,” the LDA VC quoted the secretary as having said in the meeting. The CM allowed the secretary to do so, directing other members too to look into the budget and get it approved in the next meeting.”

Mr Imran said he had contacted the CM, the secretary finance and other members regarding the budget. He hoped it would be approved in the next meeting that he was trying to hold this week.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2018