LAHORE: The Punjab government has approved five development schemes relating to regional planning, energy, governance and public building with an estimated cost of Rs9913.761 million.

Planning and Development Board Punjab Chairman Iftikhar Ali Sahoo chaired a meeting of the Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) on Thursday. The secretaries of relevant departments, members P&D board, heads of relevant departments and other senior representatives of the relevant provincial departments attended the meeting.

The meeting approved the following schemes: regional planning in Punjab at the cost of Rs477.647 million; energy efficiency and conservation programme (revised) at the cost of Rs3444.94 million; revamping of data centre services with facility of high availability and backup of PFSA (revised) at the cost of Rs785.602 million; rehabilitation/renovation of local government and community development building and H-Block (now Ravi Block) in Punjab Civil Secretariat along with parking arrangements at the site of existing building of health department at the cost of Rs657.776 million; and construction of 313 residences for police officers/official in Lahore at the cost of Rs4,547.796 million.

Meanwhile, Punjab Planning and Development Minister Bilal Afzal chaired a meeting of the Public Financial Management Reform Steering Committee (PFMRC), which was attended by the provincial secretaries of the Punjab Board of Revenue and P&D, the head of PFMU, and officers of Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB), Punjab Procurement Regulatory Authority, Board of Revenue and Punjab Finance Department.

In the meeting, the progress and implementation of the World Bank-funded Punjab Resource Improvement and Digital Effectiveness (PRIDE) programme was reviewed. Moreover, various proposals to increase government revenue/income and improve digital services were discussed, aimed at improving the process of essential budget and reducing financial risk.

While addressing the meeting, the Minister said that they should adopt a procedure in which procurement costs could be minimised and the government could get better quality office supplies and things at cheaper prices.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024

Comments

Comments are closed.