All resources are being utilised for the provision of basic amenities to the people and rapid development of the province, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Friday.
Addressing a high-level meeting, Shahbaz said a record number of development projects were completed during the last three years and special attention was being paid to less developed areas of the province to bring them at par with the developed areas and development schemes were completed on priority basis.
The meeting also approved development projects worth billions of rupees under the Large City and District Packages and Southern Punjab Development Programme (SPDP) including mega infrastructure, education, health, sewerage and drainage projects.
The meeting which lasted for more than four hours, also reviewed in detail implementation of development packages and the SPDP during the last year. Shahbaz said completion of quality development projects on time and in a transparent manner was the policy of the Punjab government and it was being implemented throughout the province.
He said service to the people was a form of worship and those officers who had shown outstanding performance while completing public welfare projects should be encouraged and their efficiency should also be highlighted in the annual confidential reports.
The CM said this would not only help encourage hardworking and competent officers but would promote a spirit of competition among them.
He said a number of projects had been completed in 11 districts of the province under the SPDP and in the remaining districts under the Large City and District Packages.
He said separate funds should be allocated for development and non-development projects under the districts development programme in the current financial year, adding that the district coordination committees should monitor it and ensure that the funds allocated for development projects should only be spent on development activities.
He said supply of clean drinking water to the masses was of utmost importance, therefore, in the areas where there was a problem of clean drinking water, water supply schemes should be completed on a priority basis. He said priorities of development projects should be fixed in consultation with elected representatives of various districts.
Shahbaz said development schemes under special packages for Chiniot, Sargodha and Mandi Bahauddin would be given a final shape at the earliest. He said on the pattern of Lahore, Parks and Horticulture Authorities should be set up in all big cities for making them beautiful and green. He said a comprehensive planning should also be made for construction of parking plazas in big cities for streamlining the flow of traffic.