LAHORE: A review meeting on Punjab Government’s Annual Development Plan 2021-22, chaired by the P&D Board Chairman Abdullah Khan Sumbal was held at the Planning and Development Department, Lahore.
The meeting focused on reviewing Punjab’s Development profile and in particular the status of ADP 2021-22 in perspective of the allocated budget, releases and utilization.
The P&D chairman urged the departments to continue with focused efforts in their sectors to ensure proper utilization of public funds. P&D Secretary Imran Sikandar Baloch briefed that against 4,688 un-approved schemes at the beginning of the financial year, 4,126 schemes had been approved (92 percent). The budget allocated for ADP was Rs560 billion whereas releases at the spending level stood at Rs118 billion.
The meeting was also told that Rs153 billion has been released by Finance Department. Division and department-wise approval statuses of schemes were also discussed in detail.
The chairman was briefed that, as instructed by the Punjab chief secretary in the last review, all administrative departments and finance departments need to ensure immediate placement of released funds at the spending level after removing all impediments.
The board was also instructed by the chairman that slow placement of funds at the spending level and utilization of funds must be accelerated. To ensure fast track implementation of ADP 2021-22, the guidelines and the timeliness notified by the Punjab chief minister should be followed in letter and spirit, he added.
For the implementation of the above-cited guidelines, robust quality control mechanism needs to be put in place by the administrative departments to ensure quality work as desired by the vision of Punjab CM.
The bottlenecks hindering the implementation of ADP must be highlighted in precise terms and indicated to the P&D Board or the concerned quarters for redress. Chairman Abdullah Khan Sumbal added that the Punjab government, following the vision of its CM, is working assiduously to ensure that the utilization is result-oriented.
The development received at all levels must be conducted consistently by all concerned Secretaries, said Sumbal.
The meeting was attended by Administrative Secretaries, Members of the P&D Board, and other senior officers of concerned departments.
