ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday directed completion of all projects in the country within approved costs and scheduled timeline ensuring utmost transparency.
He gave the directive while chairing a meeting of Council of Common Interests (CCI) which was attended by chief ministers of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
Nawaz said during previous tenures, the development projects did not complete in time and the cost over-run was a routine matter.
The secretary Inter-Provincial Coordination Division briefed the meeting regarding implementation status of decisions taken in the last CCI meeting held on December 16, 2016.
The CCI, while considering the inquiry into corruption charges of Kacchi Canal case, unanimously decided that exemplary punishment be accorded to all the officials involved in the case.
The CCI directed all provincial representatives to hold meeting with the federal minister for planning and development to finalise matters pertaining to higher education and other similar bodies in post 18th Amendment scenario.
The CCI approved the financing of National Flood Protection Plan Phase-IV at an overall cost of Rs 177.661 billion on 50:50 share basis by the federal government and the provincial governments.
For the agenda item of import of LNG, it was decided that the summary would be circulated to all provinces for soliciting comments and be presented in the next CCI meeting.
The CCI expressed satisfaction over the 6th Population and Housing Census. The Ministry of Finance assured that the Census would be completed within the scheduled timeline with utmost transparency.
The Ministry of Climate Change briefed the meeting that detailed consultations on National Forest Policy 2015 had been completed with all provinces.
The Water and Power Ministry informed the CCI that issues regarding settlement of Net Hydro Profit (NHP) between WAPDA and Government of Punjab had been settled wherein WAPDA had issued a promissory note in favour of Government of Punjab amounting to Rs 38.12 billion while a tariff petition is under review for filing with NEPRA for recovery of NHP arrears.
The CCI approved amendments in the ‘Regulation of Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electric Power Act, 1997’.
