K-P CM wants early handover of new govt buildings

PESHAWAR:

The provincial chief executive has directed to hand over all newly-constructed government buildings to their relevant departments to improve government performance.

This was directed by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Tuesday as he chaired a joint meeting with the Communication and Works (C&W) Health, Elementary and Secondary and Higher Education departments on Tuesday.

During the meeting, CM Mahmood expressed his dissatisfaction on the progress made in handing over newly-constructed buildings of hospitals, schools and colleges to the relevant departments.

“The public should benefit from uplift schemes without any delay as this is the sole purpose for which public money was spent on these projects,” the chief minister said, adding that although the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic may have slowed the pace of uplift schemes, the government is still supposed to ensure good governance and provision of better services.

He directed to ensure that the completed buildings are handed over to their relevant departments within a month and that progress on the process will be reviewed in a follow-up meeting.

Mahmood warned of strict disciplinary action against those who fail to implement the directives.

The chief minister further directed provincial ministers to hold regular meetings of their assigned departments to review the progress made on uplift schemes.

In this regard, he pointed out that uplift of both the education and health sectors was a top priority of the incumbent government and directed the finance department to approve the schedule of new expenditures (SNEs) as soon as possible so that new vacancies in the health and education departments can be created and filled.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 8^th, 2020.