Muzaffarabad — Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Faisal Mumtaz Rathore chaired a high-level development review meeting on Wednesday, directing all departments to ensure 100 percent utilisation of development funds by December 10. The session was attended by Senior Minister Mian Abdul Waheed, cabinet ministers Javed Iqbal Budhanvi, Dewan Ali Khan Chughtai, Sardar Javed Ayub, Chaudhry Rafiq Nayar, Aamir Yasin, Zafar Iqbal Malik, Sardar Zia-ul-Qamar, Ali Shan Soni, Chaudhry Muhammad Rasheed, Syed Bazil Ali Naqvi, Adviser to the Government Sardar Fahad Yaqub, Chief Secretary (Development) Khushhal Khan, departmental secretaries and heads of departments.
Additional Chief Secretary (Development) Atif ur Rehman gave a detailed briefing on the ongoing schemes. The prime minister emphasised that time is limited and departments must accelerate their work, adding that no development project will face delays under the current government. He instructed departments to prepare project proposals promptly and submit them to relevant forums, while secretaries should prepare schemes against block allocations and submit them before December 15.
Prime Minister Rathore further directed members of the assembly to identify local government-related schemes and send them for approval by December 30, noting that delays in identification create complications. To expedite Communication and Works projects, he recommended temporary hiring of technical staff to improve implementation speed, and urged all departments to remove project-related obstacles on a priority basis to ensure timely completion.
He also announced plans to speak with the Prime Minister of Pakistan and the Chairman of ECNEC to increase the mandate of the Development Working Party and the Cabinet Development Party, aiming to prevent unnecessary delays in project approvals.
Briefing the meeting, Additional Chief Secretary Atif ur Rehman stated that AJK’s total development budget stands at Rs49 billion, including Rs32 billion as PSDP block allocation and Rs17 billion from AJK’s own resources. He highlighted that Rs8 billion worth of schemes are currently part of the PSDP, while Rs5 billion are included under the Prime Minister of Pakistan’s package. A total of 472 ongoing schemes and 117 new projects are part of the annual development programme. So far, Rs9.6 billion — 40 percent of the development budget — has been released in the first two quarters, with Rs7.3 billion utilised, amounting to 70 percent of released funds. He noted that Azad Kashmir has achieved 100 percent utilisation for the past five consecutive years.