KARACHI: Taking notice of the halted work on the 273-km-long Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD)-II project, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Sindh Assembly on Monday summoned the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) chairman and other officials to explain delay in the key scheme.

PAC chairman Nisar Khuhro while presiding over a meeting here also directed the provincial irrigation department to immediately take up the funding and technical matters with Wapda and the federal government to resume the work on the RBOD project.

The PAC formed a committee, comprising officers of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), irrigation department and revenue department, regarding the handover of the records of the RBOD project, which is in the NAB custody.

The committee was asked to receive the records from the NAB and submit a report within 15 days.

The meeting was attended by committee members Qasim Siraj Soomro, Khurram Karim Soomro and Makhdoom Fakharuz Zaman.

NAB Director Abdul Hafeez Siddiqui, Irrigation Secretary Zarif Khero, Finance Secretary Fayyaz Jatoi and Senior Member Board of Revenue Baqaullah Unar briefed the PAC about the RBOD project.

The committee was formed after the NAB director told the PAC that the NAB had handed over the records regarding the purchase of land to the revenue officers of Thatta and Jamshoro on Jan 2.

However, the deputy commissioners of Jamshoro and Thatta said that they had not received any record from the NAB.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2025