Govt denies directing most funds to Lahore

MBS cost a total of Rs29.8 billion, of which Rs4.5 billion was utilised in 2011-12, says Government spokesperson.

LAHORE:

A spokesperson of Punjab government has denied that half of Punjab’s development spending has been concentrated on projects in Lahore, as reported in The Express Tribune on March 3.

The spokesperson said the report correctly noted utilisation of Rs70 billion up to the end of January, but various figures had been interpreted incorrectly. He said the cost of the Model Town underpass was included in the overall cost of the Metro Bus Service project, but had been counted as separate in the report. He said the Kalma Chowk underpasses had not been funded from the provincial ADP, but by the LDA.



He said that the MBS had cost a total of Rs29.8 billion, of which Rs4.5 billion was utilised in 2011-12. Of the remaining cost, releases had been made for the full amount but the utilisation in the current financial year was Rs18.9 billion till the end of January 2013. The spokesperson said that the Planning and Development Department had released Rs117.6 billion for the ADP up till the end of January 2013, of which Rs70 billion had been spent, less than Rs19 billion of it in Lahore.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 4^th, 2013.