Caretaker Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Muhammad Sami Saeed on Wednesday said infrastructure development projects played a crucial role in improving connectivity and tackling the challenges posed by climate change and water scarcity. He expressed these views while chairing performance review meetings on the functions of infrastructure development and Monitoring & Evaluation Wings. In a meeting, Member Infrastructure Waqas Anwar gave a detailed overview of projects spanning diverse sectors in transportation and communication. The minister stressed that infrastructure development projects always played a key role in improving connectivity and in meeting the challenges posed by climate change and water scarcity. He said building resilient and weather-resistant infrastructure to embrace climate-induced calamities was the need of the hour. In another subsequent meeting that reviewed the progress of the Monitoring and Evaluation Wing, Dr Zahir Shah, the respective Member, and Project Director M & E, briefed on real-time project monitoring and evaluation. The presentation also underscored the Intelligent Project Automation System and outlined forthcoming action plans. It was highlighted that with the integration of technology, impact analysis of development projects had become mandatory under directions issued by the Central Development Working Party for comprehensive project assessment. Minister Sami Saeed expressed his resolve and commitment to continue the development endeavours, saying “Progress and Development warrants harnessing and optimal utilization of resources with an entrenched Monitoring and Evaluation mechanism in place.” He said the function of the Ministry’s Monitoring and Evaluation Wing of the Ministry was commendable as it laid the groundwork to employ information technology that would improve the quality and timeliness in the Monitoring and Evaluation of the projects. In a resource-constraint environment, Sami Saeed said a robust Monitoring and Evaluation mechanism was indispensable in improving the effectiveness of development expenditures. The minister also emphasized accelerating the pace of ongoing projects with quality execution.