Pakistan

Reduced: Allocation for Housing and Works down 40%

Only three new schemes worth Rs110 million approved.

Obaid Abbasi June 03, 2014

Though the majority of shares will remain with the current management of the property portal, the acquired enterprise is expected to formally launch in September this year.PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD:

Allocations for the Ministry of Housing and Works under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2014-15 have gone down by almost 40 per cent compared to the previous year.

The ministry got Rs1.9 billion and only the three new schemes this year, as opposed to Rs3.7 billion under the PSDP 2013-14.

This year, 41 ongoing schemes have been revised, as opposed to 59 last year.

New schemes

The ministry will get Rs25 million for the construction of Chandor Sharif-Haripur Road, Rs50 million for water supply schemes in Baladar, while Rs35 million have been allocated for water supply schemes in Mansehra district.

Ongoing scheme

The government has earmarked Rs1.82 billion for 41 ongoing schemes, most significantly Rs500 million for the construction of a new secretariat block on Constitution Avenue, Rs250 million for dualisation and improvement of the Mandra-Chakwal Road, and Rs160 million for the construction of Musakhail Road between Punjab and Balochistan.

Meanwhile, Rs50 million have been earmarked for the renovation of Victoria Railway Bridge over Jhelum River, and Rs100 million have been reserved for the construction of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) headquarters in Sector G-5/1. Also on the NAB front, Rs127 million have been set aside for the construction of new NAB buildings in Peshawar, Quetta and Lahore.

Accommodations at the IB academy in Sector H-11 will be funded to the tune of Rs27 million, while Rs39.47 million have been set aside for improvements on the Supreme Court building. Another Rs41 million have been reserved for the rehabilitation of the Lahore High Court.

An interesting, if minor, allocation has been made for the PM House, with Rs2 million set aside to install ventilators and shatterproof glass windows.

The Survey of Pakistan office in Rawalpindi can expect Rs14.8 million worth of new security arrangements.

Karachi’s Qasr-e-Naaz Federal Lodge will be upgraded at a cost of Rs14.4 million, while Rs22.8 million will be spent on the resettlement of Christians in Quetta.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2014.