KARACHI – The Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) on Thursday approved at least 13 developmental schemes worth Rs 5.984 billion for the province.
The decision came at a meeting presided over by Planning and Development (P&D) Department Chief Economist Dr Masood Kazi at the department’s committee room on Thursday.
The projects approved by the PDWP have already been cleared by the technical committee after detailed discussion and observations. The meeting approved four schemes in the roads sector worth Rs 1.4 billion under the City District Government Karachi and one scheme of 100-mgd pumping station at Dhabeji with the cost of Rs 1.117 billion.
Under the ‘access to justice’ programme, a scheme of residential and other developmental works for the province’s high court judges at a cost of Rs 142 million was also approved under the federal government budget allocation. Other schemes approved in the meeting included construction of Pir Ilahi Bux Law College in Dadu district at a cost of Rs 82 million and a cadet college in Khairpur Nathan Shah costing Rs 530 million; Sindh Skill Development Programme under the Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Youth Development Programme worth Rs 2.876 billion and two schemes of Motor Vehicle Registration and Tax Collection of the Excise and Taxation Department worth Rs 98 million.
The chief economist directed the authorities concerned to rationalise all schemes according to the observations made by the technical committee and that funds of all developmental schemes should be kept in mind. In future, any scheme worth more than 100 million would be approved by the Sindh chief minister as unnecessary expenditures have been cut down after the floods, he added.
The PDWP meeting was attended by the Karachi district coordination officer, the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board chief engineer, project directors and officers of different departments concerned.
