Balochistan likely to unveil Rs277b budget

Govt expected to slash allocation for MPA schemes by half

QUETTA: The total outlay of Balochistan’s annual budget for the next fiscal year will be around Rs277.56 billion with a development allocation of Rs60 billion, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The provincial government has decided to slash by half the traditional allocation of funds to routine MPA schemes and the other half is being invested directly on mega development schemes, according to credible sources.

Some Rs10 billion have been earmarked for the Quetta Bulk Water Supply Scheme, Rs2 billion for the Railway Mass Transit scheme and Rs1 billion for Quetta’s Green Bus scheme to tackle the transport problem.



Similarly, Rs10 billion have been earmarked for development of divisional headquarters, where better services and civic amenities will be provided and the administrative machinery will be further strengthened.

Sources said the budget will be a deficit budget and the deficit will be that of around Rs25.17 billion. This deficit will be met from local loans and by curtailing expenses on non-development sectors.

Non-development expenditure is expected to be around Rs183.97 billion in the next fiscal year against Rs168.54 billion of the outgoing year, registering an increase of Rs830 million. There is no explanation for an increase in the non-development budget, except for an increase in salaries and allowances.

The government plans to spend Rs40 billion on the education sector and Rs18 billion on health. In addition, Rs1 billion will be allocated to improve health services at all district headquarter hospitals so stop the load on Quetta hospitals, where patients rush from all corners of Balochistan.

For improving the road network in the provincial capital, the government has decided to allocate Rs100 for undertaking a feasibility study of Quetta roads and submit the report to the government during the next fiscal year.



There is an increase of Rs13 billion for capital expenditures and the future capital expenditure will be around Rs33.14 billion.

Slashing of MPAs’ budget

The most interesting aspect of the budget is that the government has allocated only Rs30 billion for more than 2,250 on-going schemes, all prepared by MPAs over a period of time.

Even if the schemes are undertaken seriously, they can be implemented in the next 15 to 20 years, consuming three to four tenures of the future elected governments.

The slash in allocation will compel the MPAs to withdraw all junk schemes or they would become redundant in the course of time as they may not get any allocation in successive financial years.

The government has already established the Balochistan Revenue Authority which has collected Rs2 billion during its initial days. Independent economists expect it to be a large source of revenue generation for the province.

Balochistan is expecting Rs206 billion from the divisible pool of federal resources during the next fiscal year as it received Rs180.71 billion during the current fiscal year. The province’s own revenue is estimated at Rs8. 64 billion which includes Rs4.64 billion from revenue collected through various taxes.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 13^th, 2016.