CM releases frozen development funds

Approves Rs11b to provide wheat, oil seeds to growers

KARACHI:

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah in a meeting at the CM House on Monday reviewed the ongoing development portfolio of different departments and decided to unfreeze Rs208.113 billion of 4,158 ongoing and other schemes.

It may be noted that the chief minister had frozen all the development funds due to the emergency of heavy rains and floods that wreaked havoc in the province.

The meeting was attended by provincial ministers, Sharjeel Inam Memon, Syed Nasir Shah, Zia Abbas Shah, Jam Khan Shoro, Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput, Chairman P&D Hassan Naqvi, Secretary Finance Sajid Jamal Abro, Secretary to CM Rahim Shaikh, Secretary Local government Najam Shah, Secretary Works Imran Atta, Secretary Irrigation Sohail Qureshi, Member P&D Fatah Tunio and other officials.

Chairman P&D briefed the chief minister and said that 4,185 schemes were going on with an allocation of Rs204.652 billion against which 119.649 billion were released but the amount was frozen by the government.

The chief minister reviewed the ongoing schemes, including 1,182 schemes of Rs58.345 billion.

Another 333 schemes of Rs98.831 billion, likely to be completed in the current financial year, were given total funds in three installments but the funds were frozen.

A fund of Rs95.969 billion for 991 schemes was to be released in four installments to complete the projects during the current financial year. The funds were frozen by the government.

The chief minister was informed that Rs336 billion would be needed to undertake Flood Rehabilitation Emergency Projects. They include Rs48 billion for Flood Control & Rehabilitation of Irrigation & Drainage Infrastructure Projects, Rs22 billion for rehabilitation of major roads infrastructure, rehabilitation of water supply & drainage system, Rs9 billion for Rescue 1122, enhancing response for emergency services, Rs16. 90 billion for livestock project, Rs110 billion housing reconstruction project, Rs294 billion for Sindh Human Capital Investment Project, and Rs24.2 billion for Sindh Water and Agriculture Transformation project subsidy on agriculture inputs.

The chief minister said that farmers have lost their entire kharif crops. Therefore, we have decided to provide wheat and oil seeds to the growers for which he approved Rs11 billion. The World Bank has also pledged a $100 subsidy for agriculture inputs.

The chief minister was also informed that stagnant flood/rainwater was being disposed of from the cities, towns, and agricultural lands located on the right and left bank of the River Indus using machineries and other equipment.

The lands would be cleared by the end of this month so that Rabi crop cultivation could be started.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18^th, 2022.