Rs486m down the drain as land record project falters

KARACHI: The Public Accounts Committee was informed on Wednesday that the Sindh Board of Revenue had not fully preserved 150-year-old land revenue records of Karachi and Hyderabad despite the passage of two decades and spending amounting to hundreds of millions of rupees.

The matter came up during a meeting of the PAC chaired by Nisar Khuhro, where audit paras for 2023 and 2024 were taken up. Audit officials raised objections over the performance of the Board of Revenue’s record digitisation and preservation scheme, which was launched in 2005 with an estimated cost of Rs486.889 million.

According to the audit observations placed before the committee, the project was started to preserve and digitise historical land revenue records covering 150 years. However, despite expenditure of Rs328 million up to 2024, the scheme did not achieve its stated goals.

The audit also pointed to the department’s failure to take effective action against the contractor over delays and inefficiencies. It further noted that substantial amounts continued to be spent every year on the salaries of contract employees.

Board of Revenue gives project details

During the meeting, the Board of Revenue told the committee that the scheme involved chemical treatment and digitisation of old land records through specialised machinery. Officials said records from all 130 taluka offices across Sindh had been digitised by 2010, while records from Matiari, Khairpur and Larkana had been preserved.

They added that in Karachi and Hyderabad, about 80 per cent of the available land records had been digitised and secured. The board further informed the committee that out of nearly 10 million pages of land records, around 800,000 pages had been preserved, along with 5,000 of 19,000 maps.

Officials maintained that a significant part of the historical record could not be traced despite efforts made under the project.

Reasons cited for closure

The Board of Revenue told the PAC that the scheme was eventually closed in June 2025. It cited an increase in the cost of chemical treatment, a shortage of imported lamination material and the fact that staff salaries had not been increased as reasons behind the closure.

The committee was also informed that Rs100 million had been surrendered to the Planning and Development Department after the project was shut down.

PAC members expressed concern over the incomplete execution of the project, questioning why the scheme was closed before achieving its objectives and why accountability measures were not taken against the contractor despite repeated delays.

The discussion in the committee centred on why a project launched to secure old land revenue records remained unfinished after years of work and major public spending, and why action was not taken against those responsible for delays identified in the audit.