QUETTA: The Balochis­tan government has decided to establish the province’s first cancer hospital in She­ikh Zayed Bin Sultan Hospital as the project will be part of the next financial year budget, it emerged on Saturday.

Spokesman for the provincial government Liaquat Shahwani said that Chief Minister Jam Kamal-led government would initiate the mega development project during the next financial year, as work on budget preparation was under way.

He said the opposition had been causing hue and cry inside and outside the assembly regarding the public sector development programme and levelling false allegations despite the fact that the government released funds for the schemes launched by the past governments.

Project will be part of next financial year budget

“Instead of completing the ongoing projects, previous governments were fond of initiating new development projects, but the government has been utilising resources to conclude pending schemes.”

The spokesman explained that out of Rs39 billion, Rs32 billion had already been released for as many as 336 projects.

Referring to the Balochistan High Court judgement on PSDP, Mr Shahwani said following the court verdict Rs5 billion would also be released within the next one and a half months as not a single penny would be allowed to lapse.

About joblessness in the province, he said that to end unemployment the provincial government had announced that 18,000 vacant posts across Balochistan would be filled on a priority basis.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2019