SAHIWAL: Around 20 registered contractors of the metropolitan corporation have been asked to complete development schemes approved under the Annual Development Programme, which are facing a delay.

According to the sources, half of the 40 development schemes worth Rs120m or more could not be completed.

Sources said the contractors had stopped working on development schemes worth Rs65.8m within corporation jurisdictions.

Municipal Officer Abdul Ghaffar told Dawn the development schemes of Rs120m were approved under the ADP for Sahiwal city while almost 50pc of the schemes were lying dead.

Contractors asked to complete projects before December

Commissioner Javed Akhter directed the officers concerned that all such contractors who were delaying the schemes should be blacklisted if they did not accomplish work on time.

Ghaffar said such contractors had got warnings and they had been asked to complete all the pending schemes before December 2022.

A local contractor informed Dawn, on condition of anonymity, that there were many bottlenecks in the ongoing development schemes under the Asian Development Bank-funded project, called the Punjab Intermediate Improvement Investment Program (PICIIP).

“Our work suffers most because of the delay in administrative approvals and NOCs (no objection certificates) from different departments,” he added.

Land retrieved

Illegal constructions at around three kanal land were demolished by the metropolitan corporation at the Mahi Shah Graveyard and the land retrieved from the illegal occupiers had been handed over to the graveyard management committee.

The graveyard is located in the center of the old city and the land grabbers gradually occupied its land during the last five years.

Commissioner Javed Akhter ordered the authorities to book the land grabbers under Illegal Dispossession Act 2004 if they again occupied the land.

He said it was the prime responsibility of the municipal corporation to secure the state land from the illegal occupiers.

The commissioner said a grand operation should be launched for the retrieval of land from the grabbers after the report.

Municipal Officer Abdul Ghaffar told Dawn the report on illegal occupation of graveyards land in Sahiwal city was being prepared.

Dawn learnt from the sources that each of the 24 graveyards of the city had some of its portion occupied by the land grabbers.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2022