Officials say whopping Rs99 billion will be cut from ADP. PHOTO: APP
PESHAWAR: The provincial government is likely to reduce its development budget by Rs99.2 billion compared to the outgoing year, thus leaving little space for progress.
Officials privy to the budget development told The Express Tribune the finance department has informed the planning and development department (P&D) that the development budget will be Rs75.58 billion for financial year 2016-17. This is over half of the development budget of the outgoing year which stands at Rs174.8 billion.
This figure has also been reflected in the finance department’s Budget Strategy Paper-II (BSP-II) which pitches the outlay at Rs408.6 billion for 2016-17, 16% less than the Rs487.8 billion of the outgoing 2015-16.
A copy of the document is available with The Express Tribune.
The P&D department has a Rs239 billion portfolio target for the Annual Development Programme (ADP) in 2016-17 - significantly higher than the finance department’s Rs75 billion estimate.
“Around Rs12 billion will go straight to the ADP for the districts,” an official said. “We will be left with Rs63 billion. This is a joke. The road sector alone was asking for Rs21 billion to complete its ongoing schemes in 2016-17.”
He added, “People will laugh at us because we are spending Rs400 billion with the current budget and not making any developments. We would be taking salaries for doing nothing. The finance department should come forward and disclose the actual monetary health of the province. It must also reveal if they are hiding money because we have to plan based on this information.”
Taking stock
According to the official, the chief minister will have to make arrangements to increase the development portfolio to a figure close to the outgoing year, if not more or equal.
Contrary to the decrease in the ADP, BSP-II pitches a 6% increase in the current expenditures which are estimated at Rs316.5 billion compared to Rs298 billion of the outgoing year.
The PTI-led coalition government got itself into this conundrum by overpitching the ADP in the outgoing year for political point scoring. However, this backfired and forced a significant reduction.
The government was taking pride in what it called a “historical increase”, in the development budget when they were passing it. They were criticised by Minister for Irrigation Sikandar Sherpao, who was then in the opposition, for the inflated figures based on overestimates and ambitions. He predicted at the time it would come back to bite the government.
Another P&D official said the actual financial position of the province in 2015-16 was Rs120 billion for the development sector, but the government inflated it.
“We believe this year we would have safely around the same Rs120 billion which could be set aside for the development portfolio.”
Finance department officials dealing with budget-making said they were expecting an increase in federal transfers as the central Board of Revenue increased its revenue target for the coming year.
“Our share will also increase in the federal transfers,” an official said. “Thus we will be able to finance the wish list of departments for their development sector.”
He added they expected the federal government to transfer Rs25 billion in net hydel profit (NHP) arrears from federal government by June 2016.
False picture
However, Minister for Finance Muzaffar Said claims to have increased the ADP rather than decreasing it.
“Those who are predicting a decrease in the ADP are painting a false picture and we will prove on budget day that the amount has been increased,” he said. “It is not possible that the whole world is going forward and we travel backwards. We will make arrangements to finance our development schemes by increasing provincial revenues and claiming what is owed by the federal government.”
Published in The Express Tribune, May 23rd, 2016.
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