HYDERABAD, Feb 22: As many as 205 development schemes of Hyderabad, Badin, Thatta, Tharparkar, Sanghar, and Mirpurkhas districts were reviewed at a meeting held at the Shahbaz Hall here on Friday.

The additional chief secretary, development, Ghulam Sarwar Khuhro, who presided over the meeting, said the government had allocated Rs7 billion in the current financial year for various development projects in Sindh.

He said these projects, being carried out under the Annual Development Programme, would not only provide basic facilities to people but would also create job opportunities.

Giving details of ADP schemes, Mr Khuhro said Rs432.293 million had been earmarked for 67 schemes of the Hyderabad district, Rs193 million for 23 schemes of the Badin district, Rs191 million for 29 schemes of the Thatta district, Rs192 million for 17 schemes of the Tharparkar district, Rs208 million for 33 schemes of the Mirpurkhas district and Rs200 million had been allocated for 34 schemes of the Sanghar district.

A sum of Rs201.942 million of the allocated amount had been released to the Hyderabad district, Rs73.428 million to the Badin district, Rs103.431 million to the Thatta district, Rs34.602 million to the Tharparkar district, Rs46.376 million to the Mirpurkhas district and Rs39.246 million had been released to the Sanghar district up to January, he added.

Expressing his dissatisfaction over the pace of development works and utilization of funds, the additional chief secretary directed officers concerned to ensure the schemes were completed by June 30 and all the funds were utilized.

He also directed them to prepare budgetary proposals for the next ADP.

About schemes that were lying unattended, Mr Khuhro directed officers of district governments to prepare a report of such schemes to make the same functional.

He said a monitoring system was being introduced to ensure transparency in development works.

Referring to difficulties pointed out by the Hyderabad district Nazim, he said bottlenecks of the devolution plan and the district government system would be removed in the light of experiences.

He made it clear that development schemes proposed by MPAs would be executed by the district government.

He stressed the need for effective communication and coordination between agencies carrying out development works.

Mr Khuhro also expressed his dissatisfaction over the standard of education and said pre-entry and in-service trainings of teachers were being introduced.

Speaking at the meeting, Hyderabad District Nazim Dr Makhdoom Rafiquzzaman said the Sindh Local Government Ordinance should be implemented in letter and spirit.

He suggested that in school schemes, the provision of purchase of plots should also be included, especially for schemes in cities and towns where people were not ready to donate their plots for schools.

He said all the funds allocated for development scheme should be released.