Interim CM directs works dept to study viability of plastic roads in Sindh

Caretaker Sindh Chief Minister Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar has directed the provincial works and services department to study viability of the concept of roads made from recycled plastic waste as this has become the world’s one of the best construction practices.

He issued the directive while presiding over a meeting of officials of the works and services department at the CM House on Saturday.

The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Dr Fakhre Alam, Planning & Development Board Chairman Shakil Mangnejo, Principal Secretary to CM Hassan Naqvi, Finance Secretary Kazim Jatoi, Works and Services Secretary Nawaz Sohoo and others.

The works and services secretary informed the CM that in the 2023-24 Annual Development Programme, there were 956 development schemes in the province with an allocation of Rs89,500.5 million against which Rs39,026.73 million had been released and the expenditures made so far were Rs18,089 million. About the inspection of the development schemes, the secretary said his department had submitted its observations and findings along with recommendations for development works in various districts of Sindh.

He also showed the CM a new inspection pro forma, and its parameters developed by his department. The CM directed the works and services department to add a new column in the inspection report pro forma to give information about the “causes and details about the revision of the scheme/project.”

The interim CM also directed the works department to include a column in the inspection pro forma about the performance of the contractor and officers involved in the project. He said the services of any renowned engineering university could be hired for third-party inspection and validation of any chosen development scheme.

Justice (retd) Baqar directed the works department to take stern departmental action against the delinquent officers involved in corrupt practices and causing poor work on different development projects.

He also directed the department to rationalise the proposed inspection mechanism, allowing the secretary to visit schemes categorised as of high importance so that the efficiency and effectiveness of the inspection mechanism might be increased.

Justice (retd) Baqar categorically told the department that there would be zero tolerance for substandard work and those involved in substandard work must be taken to task. Video recordings

The works and services secretary also informed the interim CM about the monitoring mechanism of various projects. To this, Justice (retd) Baqar said that for every major development project, there should be digital recordings, images or videos at every stage of the project.

The recorded data could be stored in the shape of DVDs or USBs, he added.

The secretary briefed the CM about his field visits to inspect development schemes of roads and buildings in Badin, Tharparkar, Umerkot, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Matiari, Hyderabad and Sanghar districts.

To a question, he told the CM that he had observed during the visits that no milestone was installed on the completed scheme, road marking paint was not applied in some schemes, quality of roads, particularly in Sanghar, was not good, in almost all schemes bridges had not been taken care of properly, shoulders of most of the schemes were not compacted properly, visits were not carried out by XENs and other relevant field officials and record of completed schemes was not readily available on the site.

He said he issued necessary instructions to all the officials concerned to improve the standard of their work. He added that departmental action would also be initiated against the delinquent officials.

The works and services secretary also briefed the meeting 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.

To this, the interim Chief Minister said the post of DG monitoring could be filled through a competitive process which could either be carried out from the market or the existing cadre of engineers. He directed the officials concerned to maintain the proper logbooks of official vehicles where all the necessary information must be included. He also directed the officials concerned to start road safety research and programmes, especially on the Indus Highway.