KARACHI: Despite a 24-year wait, numerous projects worth over Rs114 billion under the Annual Development Plan (ADP) for 28 provincial departments remain stalled due to persistent delays, it emerged on Thursday.
A meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Sindh Assembly, chaired by PAC Chairman Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, learnt that major projects like the Right Bank Outfall Drain-II (RBOD-II) and Sindh Secretariat Complex 7 and 8 remained incomplete despite billions of rupees being spent.
Irked by the performance of the provincial departments, the PAC chairman sought a progress report from the planning and development (P&D) department regarding these projects, summoning the P&D chairman in the next meeting.
Held in the Sindh Assembly Committee Room, the meeting was attended among others by PAC Member Qasim Siraj Soomro, P&D Secretary Sajjad Abbasi and other concerned officers.
The meeting reviewed the audit reports of the P&D department for 2023 and 2024.
In the meeting, the DG audit raised objections to the audit report that the Rs114.39 billion ADP schemes from 2001 to 2017 approved by 28 different departments of Sindh had not been completed and those were being included in the budget book despite the passage of so many years, causing losses to the provincial government.
The PAC chairman inquired from the P&D department that out of the 133 schemes worth Rs114 billion approved by different departments, how many had been completed and which ones were still incomplete due to delay and why the departments had not been questioned in that regard.
The P&D secretary told the meeting that that since 2001, several schemes had not been completed. He said that details had been sought from the departments concerned.
The meeting was told that due to umbrella plans, some ADP schemes had not been completed and they could not be taken out of the ADP until those schemes were completed.
It was informed that the implementation of old schemes was being worked out, for which a summary would be sent to the chief minister.
It is to be noted that 133 development schemes worth Rs114 billion were approved for 28 different departments of Sindh from 2001 to 2017. These include the construction of RBOD-II from Sehwan to Thatta sea for which Rs7 billion was allocated, Rs9.42 billion for the construction of New Sindh Secretariat Complex No. 7 and 8, Rs3.29 billion for the installation of solar lights in the rural districts of Sindh and Rs442 million for the establishment of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Chair in Karachi University, and various other projects.
Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2025
