LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that huge resources were plundered in the past on the pretext of development projects in addition to wasting billions of rupees through corruption, delay in completion and poor standard of uplift schemes. He said corruption-free culture has been revived in the province after 10 years and transparent use of every penny of public money is being ensured. He said the projects executed in the tenure of the present government could be compared with any developed country with regard to their transparency and high standard. The CM was addressing a meeting held to review the implementation of development projects in the province here Friday. Secretary Communications and Works, representatives of NESPAK and officers of departments concerned were present. The CM said modern infrastructure is of vital importance for rapid development and promotion of economic activities, therefore, Punjab government is focusing on the uplift of this sector. He said billions of rupees are being spent on construction of roads, bridges, underpasses and other development projects in the province. He said government had to bear heavy additional expenditure due to delay in development projects in the tenure of former government and the collusion between contractors and officers of concerned department was the main cause of delay and substandard construction work. He said had the department concerned performed its responsibilities efficiently and kept a watchful eye on quality and timeframe of uplift schemes, the public money would not have gone waste in this manner. He said present government has again ensured timely and transparent completion of development projects in the province and the policy of third-party audit has been strictly implemented in all mega projects. He said a high standard of development projects was maintained by the present leadership in its last tenure and the standard of uplift projects is even better now. He said solid measures are also being taken for the development of less-developed areas of the province and uplift projects are being executed in these areas on priority bases. He said Maulana Shaukat Ali and Madr-e-Millat Roads, Sagian and Shalimar Interchanges and Lahore Ring Road Package-6 &7 projects completed recently are a masterpiece of construction work and have been executed within timeframe and in a transparent manner. He said that these projects has resulted in provision of better transport facilities to the masses and will also leave a far-reaching impact on the development of the province. The meeting also reviewed the pace of execution of various major development projects in Lahore, Kasur, Bahawalpur, Chiniot and other districts of the province.