Ongoing projects to be completed as soon as possible: Abbas Shah

KARACHI: Provincial Minister for Works and Services, Syed Zia Abbas Shah on Saturday said that the ongoing projects should be completed as soon as possible.He expressed these views while chairing a meeting held here to review the on-going and new schemes of Highways sector of Works and Services Department.The meeting was attended by Secretary Works and Services Imran Ata Soomro, Chief Engineer (Highways) Sukkur, Chief Engineer (Highways) Hyderabad and relevant Superintending Engineers and Executive Engineers.Shah directed the Chief Engineer Highways of Hyderabad and Sukkur region that use of international standard materials in the projects.He further said the construction of roads has a positive impact on the economy while the best infrastructure for transportation facilities will also reduce the fuel cost and the journey time.On the occasion, Secretary Works and Services Department, Imran Atta Soomro briefed about the schemes and said that the on-going schemes are divided into 3 categories.The first Category consisted of schemes to which full allocation has been released with amount of less than Rs. 50 million. There are 92 such schemes in this category out of which 23 schemes have been completed and rest of 69 schemes are scheduled to be completed by the end of this year. In second category, there are schemes where allocation is from Rs. 50 million to 100 million. There are 84 schemes in 2nd category and 5 schemes have been completed so far. 5 schemes are scheduled to be completed by October 2021, 23 schemes by December 2021 and 46 schemes by June 2022.He elaborated that in 3rd Category, there are 35 schemes on which 33% allocation has been released so far, out of which 12 schemes are to be completed by December 2021, and 21 schemes by June 2022. Moreover, Progress of 401 ‘New’ schemes was also reviewed.Earlier in a briefing, Chief Engineer Highways Hyderabad informed the participants that out of 125 ongoing projects in Hyderabad region, 117 projects will be completed by June 2022 while Chief Engineer Highways Sukkur while briefing the participants said that in Sukkur region out of 111 ongoing projects, 79 projects will be completed by June 2022 through which 796.7 km of roads will be constructed. Besides, 135 new schemes will be launched soon in Sukkur region at a total cost of Rs.14586 million.