Pakistan’s Sindh province continues to grapple with numerous unfinished projects that the party promised in successive budgets but has yet to see completion or significant progress, The Express Tribune Newspaper reported.
The Express Tribune is an English-language newspaper based in Pakistan.
Unfortunately, this situation persists across various projects in Sindh during the first nine months of the current fiscal year.
Among these projects, the Karachi Circular Railway is a notable example, having been announced on seven separate occasions but still needing to be completed.
According to The Express Tribune, the ambitious Benazir Accident and Trauma Centre in Razzaqabad, Karachi, designed to accommodate 1000 beds, remains unfinished. Additionally, the Bilawal Bhutto Engineering College Scheme in Lyari has been confined to paperwork without any tangible advancement.
The K-4 and S-3 mega projects, crucial for water supply and drainage, have yet to make much headway. K-4 the largest water supply scheme in Karachi, with an allocation of Rs 1.2475 billion, has yet to see any expenditure in the current year.
Similarly, the promise of transforming Garhi Khuda Baksh into a model town remains a dream. Regrettably, the Sindh government has not effectively utilised the development budget, with only 31 per cent of the allocated funds spent within nine months of fiscal 2002-23, as per The Express Tribune.
As a result, several major projects aimed at benefiting the people of Sindh have yet to begin.
Only Rs 4,272 million out of the allocated Rs 6,586 million for the development of Karachi have been utilised. By the end of the third quarter of the financial year 2022-23, Rs 108 billion had been disbursed from the total budget of Rs 276 billion.
The Department of Agriculture’s development funds saw 61 per cent utilisation, while the irrigation department’s schemes received 74 per cent of their allocated funds.
Additionally, the construction of the leading project on Shahrah Noorjahan, the Noorjahan Highway, estimated to be concluded by June 2023, still needs to be completed with only Rs 750 million spent out of the total cost of Rs 1,303 million.
The Johar Chowrangi underpass, slated for completion within the current fiscal year, also needs to be completed, as per The Express Tribune.
