KARACHI: Work on almost all ongoing uplift projects and schemes across the province is learnt to have come to a halt as the provincial government has frozen all funds allocated for the current Annual Development Programme (ADP) in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, it emerged on Sunday.

Sources in the construction industry and provincial finance department said that payment of over Rs8 billion to over 800 government contractors was withheld due to freezing of the ADP funds.

They said that the contractors were given payment quarterly under the ADP, but those in Karachi were paid in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, while contractors working on the uplift and development schemes of different provincial departments in the rest of the province were given payments in the first and second quarters.

The sources said that the suspension of work on the ongoing uplift and development scheme would not only leading to a great deal of hardships for the contractors, their sub-contractors and workers, but it was bound to adversely affect the existing civic and municipal infrastructure across the province.

Contractors’ appeal to CM

They said that the provincial government’s construction contractors had appealed to Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to immediately unfreeze the funds allocated for the current ADP so that thousands of poor skilled and unskilled daily wagers could be placed to jobs on time.

Govt withholds over Rs8bn payment to around 800 contractors

Karachi Constructors Association chairman S. M. Naeem Kazmi told Dawn that he had on April 22 written a letter to the chief minister appealing him to immediately unfreeze the ADP funds and issue directives to the finance department to release the amounts for the works already done in the ongoing projects and scheme, but to no avail.

He recalled that the prime minister had on April 17 announced an initiative package for the construction industry to increase employment opportunities in the wake of coronavirus.

Mr Kazmi said that the desired incentives could directly be extended to millions of workers associated with construction sector through expeditious implementation of halted public sector uplift and development schemes of the federal and provincial governments.

He said that over 550 contractors were involved in hundreds of ongoing uplift schemes of federal, provincial and local governments in Karachi alone and their payment of over Rs5bn was stuck.

Abdur Rahman, a contractor with the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, told Dawn that over 300 contractors of the city’s municipal administration had been waiting for payments for a long time after due approval of their bills.

He said that an amount of Rs418 million was released to the KMC by the provincial government for payments to the contractors for the work done on the ongoing uplift schemes in the second quarter. “However, contractors were not given their payments as the offices of the KMC’s concerned department were closed in the wake of Covid-19,” he said.

Mr Rahman said that thousands of skilled and non-skilled workers were associated with the KMC contractors and sub-contractors who were facing worst financial constraints.

He also appealed to the chief minister to immediately release the frozen funds so that the construction workers would not be rendered jobless.

KMC owes Rs2bn to contractors

Talking to Dawn, Mayor Wasim Akhtar said that the KMC contractors were not given payment as the provincial government had not so far released the second quarterly funds of the ADP to the municipal administration.

“The contractors have stopped work on ongoing uplift schemes due to non-payment of their dues putting at stake the fragile municipal infrastructure of the city,” he added.

He said that he had taken up the matter to the provincial government time and again, but in vain as it never gave a response on his requests for release of ADP’s second quarterly funds.

The mayor said that the provincial government had so far released only first quarterly funds of the ADP in the current fiscal year. “Normally all four quarters of ADP funds are released by May,” he added.

He said that the KMC had liability of around Rs2bn to the contractors in ongoing schemes.

Local Government Minister Nasir Shah could not be reached for comments despite repeated attempts.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2020