SAHIWAL: Chaudhry Usman Ali, MNA from NA-142, Sahiwal-II, who shifted his allegiance to the ruling coalition after winning the general election on a PTI ticket, has been reportedly awarded development grants worth Rs200 million for 17 uplift projects in his constituency.

These development schemes would be completed by the end of 2026.

A source in the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) said the official bidding for the contracts opened yesterday and they were expected to be completed within the next 10 months.

He said the bidders had submitted their proposals through e-tendering. Interestingly, most of the development projects primarily focus on the sewerage and drainage systems in various villages and rural union councils (UCs), including those in Harappa, Midaad Mafi, Nama Samoor and Sahiwal.

The estimated costs of 17 projects range from Rs0.9m to Rs36m.

The source claimed the final contractors for each project would be awarded and selected within the upcoming four weeks.

Rai Hasan Nawaz, a prominent PTI central leader and MNA from Chichawatni, while talking to Dawn from Islamabad, expressed disappointment, saying that neither he nor any other PTI MNA was allocated development funds by the PML-N-led federal government.

Chaudhry Usman Ali won the 2024 general election as a PTI-backed independent candidate, defeating three-time PML-N winner Chaudhry Muhammad Ashraf by securing 107,494 votes, compared to Ashraf’s 96,174 votes.

It was reported that Usman Ali also voted for the 26th Amendment introduced by the PML-N coalition government.

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2025