KARACHI, Oct 21 (APP):Caretaker Sindh Chief Minister Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar presiding over a meeting of the Works & Services department directed to study the viability of the concept of the plastic road by comparing the same with the world’s best practices.
This he said while reviewing the development portfolio of the Works & Services Department here at CM House.
The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Dr. Fakhre Alam, Chairman P&D Shakil Mangnejio, PSCM Hassan Naqvi, Secretary Finance Kazim Jatoi, Secretary Works & Service Nawaz Sohoo, and other concerned officers.
Secretary Works Nawaz Sohoo briefing the CM said that in the ADP 2023-24 there were 956 schemes with an allocation of Rs 89,500.5 million against which Rs 39026.73 million have been released while the expenditures made so far come to Rs18089 million.
The Secretary Works briefed the CM about the progress of inspections, its observations, and findings along with recommendations conducted by him and his office in various districts of Sindh. He also showed the CM a new inspection proforma, and its parameters developed by the department.
The CM directed the Works department to add a new column in the inspection report proforma to reflect the `causes and details about the revision of the scheme/project.’
He also directed the works department to include a column in the inspection proforma about the performance of the contractor and officers involved in that project. For this purpose, the CM said that the services of any renowned engineering University could be hired for third-party inspection and validation of any chosen development scheme/project.
Baqar directed the works dept to take stern departmental action against the delinquent officers involved in corrupt practices and causing poor work of different development projects. He also directed the department to rationalize the proposed inspection mechanism, where the Secretary would visit schemes categorized as of high importance so that the efficiency and effectiveness of inspections may be increased.
He categorically told the works department that there would be zero tolerance for sub-standard work and those involved must be taken to the task.
Secretary W&S briefed about the PWD Manual and mandate assigned to various field formations/offices of the department. He also informed the CMN about the monitoring mechanism of various projects. At this, CM Baqar directed that for every major development project, there should be digital recordings, images, or videos at every stage of the project. The recorded data can be stored in the archives in the shape of DVDs or in USB form.
The secretary briefed the CM about his field visits to inspect the development schemes of Road / Buildings Sectors of districts Badin, Tharparkar, Umerkot, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Matiari, Hyderabad, and Sanghar.
To a question, he said the CM that his observations during the visit to the schemes included that no milestone was installed on the completed scheme, TP Paint was not done in some schemes, riding quality of roads, particularly in Sanghar was not good, Bridges almost in all schemes were not been attended properly, shoulders of most of the schemes were not compacted properly, visits were not carried out by the XENs, SEs, and CEs and record of completed schemes was not readily available on the site.
Therefore, he issued necessary instructions to all the concerned for rectification of work. Departmental action has also been initiated against the delinquent officials/officers. Secretary W&S briefed about the road research lab and monitoring unit within the department. He also proposed certain recommendations for improving the role of the monitoring unit at different levels especially appointing DG monitoring from cadre services.
At this, the CM said that the post of DG Monitoring could be filled through a competitive process -. which can be either from a market or from a cadre of services or existing engineers. The caretaker CM directed the maintenance of proper logbooks of official vehicles where all the necessary information must be included. He also directed to start of road safety research and programs, especially on Indus Highway. Building structure: He directed the works dept to hire services of highly renowned consultants, architects, designers, or firms for building.
The chief minister also directed the secretary works to conduct a third-party audit of all the taxes collected at various tolls of provincial highways (except those projects running on PPP node) because in most cases these toll taxes were not reflected in non-tax revenue receipts.
He said that most of the countries have started constructing plastic roads. He directed the Works dept to further study the viability of the concept of the plastic road by comparing the same with the world’s best practices and sending its recommendations for necessary action.
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