Budgets 2011-2012: Karachi gets Rs70.7b

Hyderabad’s budget goes up almost Rs1b from last year.

KARACHI:

The City District Govern-ment Karachi (CDGK) budget of Rs70.79 billion for the year 2011-2012 was presented to and approved by City Administrator Fazlur Rehman on Wednesday.

“The provincial government has approved funds for the CDGK and has not increased grants or the Octroi and Zilla (district) tax despite a 15% salary increment,” said Rehman. The budget has a surplus of Rs102 million and does not include a new development scheme under the District Annual Development Programme (DADP). It also fails to mention any plans for rural areas, Gadap town, Bin Qasim town or Keamari. However, allocations have been made for the citizens community board which is financed by the CDGK. According to the budget, more allowances were made to the Institute of Infectious Diseases in Manghopir as compared to the four major heart hospitals in the city.

“The CDGK will suffer a financial loss if the provincial government delays the release of financial documents,” said DCO Karachi Muhammad Hussein Syed.

Mirpurkhas budget

Mirpurkhas District Administrator Ghulam Hussain Memon presented his balanced and tax-free budget of Rs4.1 billion at Ghulam Nabi Shah Hall.

The provincial government has decided to set up a medical college accompanied by a teaching hospital in Mirpurkhas and the district government has set aside Rs20 million to buy the land.

He said that a sufficient amount has been allocated for sports and recreational activities while Rs2 million has been set aside for pro-poor interventions and hepatitis B vaccines.

Forty-four million rupees have been allocated for District Headquarter Hospital, Mirpurkhas, Taluqa Headquarter Hospital in Digri and Kot Ghulam Muhammad and rural health centres and Rs1.5 million has been set aside for the ARV/ASV vaccinations.

Civil Hospital, Mirpurkhas will get Rs1.85 million for eye operations and laser technology and the dialysis centres in Mirpurkhas, Kot Ghulam Muhammad and Digri will get Rs12 million.

They have even earmarked money for a documentary and book on the history and important places of Mirpurkhas.

Hyderabad budget

A tax-free, surplus budget of Rs7.2 billion has been approved for the financial year 2011-2012 for Hyderabad. The District Coordination Officer (DCO) Aftab Ahmed Khatri, who is also the district government administrator, approved the budget in a simple ceremony held at the Zila Nazim Secretariat on Wednesday.

The budget for this year is a considerable increase from the Rs6.1 billion allotted to Hyderabad on June 30, 2010 for 2010-2011. The district government has not imposed any new taxes. The expenditure this year has been estimated at Rs7.2 billion, leaving behind a surplus of Rs0.2 million.

The Sindh finance department has provided Rs6.1 billion while the remainder is expected from the district Octroi Zila Tax (OZT) and revenue receipts from the district and the defunct District Council Hyderabad.

The district has decided to spend almost 80% of its total budget on education. The Rs5.8 billion will include Rs126 million for a ‘school-specific budget’.

Similarly Rs1 million, roughly 13% of the total, have been earmarked for health. The DCO said that 81% will be spent on salaries, Rs 4.9 billion, while Rs0.8 billion is for the non-salary component. An amount of Rs0.6 billion will be spent on development.

Khatri said that due to the 15% increase in basic pay for government employees, a 25% enhancement in travel allowances, and the introduction of a ‘school-specific budget’, the budget for development has been narrowed down.

Last year, there was an increase in the expenses of the district government Hyderabad because of the 50% raise in basic salaries of employees, 100% increase in medical allowance for non-gazetted employees and an increase of 15% of the basic salaries in the medical allowance of the gazetted employees.
with additional input by Afaq Ahmed Khan and Junaid  Khanzada

Published in The Express Tribune, June 30^th, 2011.