KARACHI, May 20: Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim has said that the next provincial budget will be an exemplary one with higher allocations to be made for development.

He was presiding over a meeting held here on Saturday to review the province’s financial matters. Among others, the meeting was attended by the additional chief secretary (development) and secretaries of finance, education, irrigation, works & services, and agriculture & livestock departments.

Issuing directives to government departments regarding prudent utilisation of funds, the chief minister said that in the outgoing fiscal, a record Rs24 billion had been earmarked for development and this amount would go up further in the next budget.He said that the Sindh government had spared enough surplus amounts from the current budget and had already cleared federal loans by now.

He warned that corruption or malpractice in the construction of roads would not be tolerated, and stressed that Rs400 million allocated for the construction and repair of roads must be utilised by next month. In the next fiscal, an amount of Rs600 million would be allocated for this purpose.He pointed out that on the special directive of President Pervez Musharraf, all canals in the province would be lined. He said that the work on the lining of 1,000 water courses was in progress.

He told the meeting that salaries of Sindh police would be brought at par with that of Punjab police in the new fiscal.

Dr Arbab called for improvement in the agriculture tax recovery system and special focus on silt-clearance and revamping of canals, saying that Rs200 million would be allocated for this purpose.

He observed that condition of government buildings and hospitals was not good. “If one hospital is improved in one district, this will help provide better health facilities to people in that district.”

He said Rs1 billion would be allocated in the budget for improving the condition of hospitals in Sindh.

He particularly referred to the civil hospital and Lyari hospital in Karachi, and the civil hospitals of Sukkur, Mirpurkhas, Nawabshah and Larkana, and emphasised on improvement in medical facilities there. He called for setting up boards of directors for these hospitals for a better fund utilisation and management.

He disclosed that a medical college would be set up in Mirpurkhas next year.

The chief minister ordered setting up of 27 cattle colonies in Tando Adam, Mehrabpur, Kaloi and all other districts for which, he said, Rs400 million would be allocated.

He said that Rs395 million would be earmarked for farming in the province to overcome shortage of meat and dairy products.

He directed all DCOs to prepare a report on all the bungalows under control of irrigation department. The roads running parallel to lined canals should also be strengthened.—APP