LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on Wednesday chaired a meeting to review progress on the development projects in the province.

Finance Minister Hashim Jawan Bakht, the chief secretary, chairman planning & development and others attended the meeting.

The secretary finance briefed that the tax collection ratio has increased up to 7 per cent as compared to the previous year.

The CM directed to complete the ongoing schemes according to their stipulated period and asked the administrative secretaries to personally review progress on development schemes. Timely completion saved resources and facilitated the citizens, he maintained and made it clear that any delay would not be tolerated.

He emphasised that an effective monitoring system was imperative for timely utilization of funds, adding that the ADP target would be achieved at every cost. "I will soon visit the P&D department to review progress made on the annual development programme," he said.

The chief minister directed to take every possible step to ensure financial discipline and directed to adopt out-of-box solutions to curtail recurring expenditures. Similarly, more and more funds should be allocated for public welfare schemes, he added.