KARACHI: The private contractors carrying out development projects across Sindh, initiated and funded by the provincial government, have demanded the immediate release of outstanding payments for the ongoing Annual Development Programme (ADP).

In a statement, chairman Constructors Association of Pakistan (CAP) Syed Afzal-u-Rehman urged President Asif Ali Zardari, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Sindh Governor Syed Nehal Hashmi, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and Sindh Chief Secretary Syed Asif Haider Shah to ensure the immediate release of their outstanding payments.

According to the CAP chairman, nearly 400 ADP projects remain incomplete because contractors have not received their outstanding dues.

He said the projects, awarded over the past 15 years to date and now around 75 per cent complete, have remained stalled due to non-payments.

He pointed out that after the 18th Amendment of the Constitution, record taxes have been collected and there is no reason to delay payments.

Mr Rehman said delayed payments to contractors had become the main reason behind the suspension of development work on hundreds of public sector projects.

The delays, he said, have deprived people of much-needed infrastructure while slowing economic activity and increasing unemployment across Sindh. Furthermore, the partly completed works are deteriorating, and their shelf life is being reduced due to non-use, which is an indirect loss to public funds.

He blamed the prolonged delays on bureaucratic inefficiency and excessive red tape, coupled with the prevalence of corruption, which are multiplying the issues and have also contributed to economic stagnation and sluggish growth.

Timely release of funds, he added, would allow the projects to be completed and enable the public to benefit from the development schemes at the earliest.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2026