PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government departments have utilised only 0.4 per cent of the Rs83 billion merged districts development outlay in the first six months of the current fiscal, documents show.

The documents available with Dawn showed that the latest review of the merged district’s development portfolio, which took place on Dec 16, had even angered Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, who formally conveyed his displeasure to 13 departments at their poor show lately.

The merged districts development portfolio of Rs83 billion includes Rs59 billion Accelerated Implementation Plan (AIP) and Rs23.9 billion annual development programme.

The provincial government has released Rs8.9 billion in the current financial year on account on both components and of that amount, only Rs3.7 billion was utilised in six months.

CM adviser promises speedy work on projects next year

Adviser to the chief minister for merged districts Ajmal Wazir told Dawn that work on development projects in merged districts would speed up in the next year.

“Starting from Jan, work on development projects will be carried out on a war footing,” he said, adding that the government was busy introducing a mechanism to ensure transparency and build the capacity of the government departments.

The adviser said transparency, capacity building and monitoring mechanism were of the utmost importance for optimal utilisation of the region’s development outlay.

The documents showed that the government had so far released Rs4.7 billion under the AIP and Rs1.7 billion of it was utilised.

The major chunk of the released money amounting to Rs1.7 billion was spent by the relief, rehabilitation and settlement department followed by the industries department (Rs370 million), while rest of the departments showed zero utilisation.

Of 188 PC-1s under the AIP, only 31 have so far been approved by the relevant forums, while work has begun on 13 only.

The elementary and secondary education department has 44 unapproved PC-1s, health 32, agriculture and roads 11 each, governance and sports eight each and irrigation and water management seven.

Under the Rs23.9 billion ADP, Rs4.2 billion was released but the government departments utilised Rs2 billion of it. Of the 277 total ADP PC-1s, 216 have yet to be approved by the relevant forums. Until now, only 61 have been approved.

The E&SE department has the largest number of 46 unapproved PC-1s, roads department 23, local government department 22, health department 21, urban development department 17 and forestry department 14.

Rs4.4 billion has been released under the quick impact projects, which has a total allocation of Rs8.5 billion. Of the amount, the government departments spent Rs2 billion.

The energy and power department failed to utilise even a single penny out of Rs209 million released funds. The sports department utilised Rs5.6 million out of Rs84 million released funds, E&SE Rs187 million out of Rs318 million, health Rs869 million out of Rs1.6 billion, industries 301 million out of Rs1.4 billion, local government Rs587 million out of Rs592 million and communication and works utilised Rs99 million out of Rs102 million released for solarisation.

The poor show of government departments has angered the chief minister, who voiced concerns about slow development work in the region.

On Dec 16, the principal secretary to the chief minister wrote a letter to the administrative secretaries of 13 government departments expressing the chief minister’s concerns about slow progress on development projects in the region.

The departments named in the letter include forestry and environment, industries, energy and power, local government, Auqaf, mines and minerals, agriculture, social welfare, irrigation, sports, communication and works, health and elementary and secondary education.

The letter quoted the chief minister as saying the mainstreaming of merged districts is the first priority of the provincial government, which was impossible without the massive development of the areas.

It said during the review of the AIP, annual development programme and quick impact projects, the chief minister showed discontentment and concern about slow progress on development projects envisaged in various development initiatives.

Mr Mahmood directed all administrative secretaries to be cautioned and warned them to expedite work on projects in their respective sectors.

The chief minister said he would conduct another review again within a fortnight and in case of shortfall, the respective secretary would be held responsible.

Separately, a statement issued here on Thursday said the chief minister chaired a meeting regarding the development projects of merged districts and directed the accelerated utilisation of funds in the region and that a written warning should be given to all provincial departments in that respect.

“All departments are responsible to complete their targets within the stipulated timelines, there is no space for wasting of time,” he said.

Mr Mahmood was informed in the meeting that a comprehensive draft of AIP policy had been prepared by the P&D department which after the finalisation would be placed before the cabinet for approval.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2019