Punjab Assembly: Opposition wants Kalabagh funds in budget

Opposition Leader Chaudhry Zaheeruddin demands more funds for south Punjab, end to discretionary spending.

LAHORE: Kalabagh Dam is the only solution to the water and electricity shortage and the provincial government should allocate funds for the construction of the reservoir in the next budget, Opposition Leader Chaudhry Zaheeruddin said in the Punjab Assembly on Monday.

The government should also consider setting up its own electricity projects of up to 50MW, as it is allowed to by the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, Zaheeruddin said, as the house began a four-day pre-budget general discussion.

He said the budget for 2011-12 should include subsidies for solar power, to encourage use of the clean energy source. The government should also reactivate a dyke system in parts of the province to prevent waterlogging, he said.

Zaheeruddin criticised the practice of making block allocations and discretionary spending in the budget. Discretionary spending increased the risk of corruption and made things less transparent, he said.

He also urged the government to increase their capacity to spend money on development projects, noting that each year, some 45 per cent of the development budget is unused. He said the government should allocate “realistic” amounts for development projects. Often, he said, projects were allocated a fraction of their actual cost. This money was spent on starting the project, but ultimately it was wasted as the project would not be completed.

The opposition leader also advised the government to dedicate land between Bhera and Attock for the cultivation of olives, since the use of olive oil in Pakistan was surging and 90 per cent of the supply was imported; to scrap “unproductive” schemes like the Sasti Roti Scheme and Punjab Food Support Programme; to make budget allocations for the purchase of wheat; and to increase the development budget for south Punjab by 50 per cent over last year.

Makhdoom Ahmad Mehmood, an opposition MPA representing a Rahim Yar Khan constituency, accused the provincial government of a lack of vision and mismanagement of previous budgets.

He warned that there was a growing divide between politics and society at large. He said though the political system and institutions were becoming more stable, the country itself was becoming less stable. “This is the first time I have seen this dichotomy,” he said.

He said the province was in “financial meltdown”. The budget would be meaningless six months into the year because at the rate the government was printing money, inflation would soon hit new heights.

Mehmood accused the government of reneging on its province to provide Rs54 billion for development in south Punjab in 2010-11. “Where did that money go?” he asked, turning to face the finance minister.

He said the “throne” in Lahore was out of touch with the people of South Punjab. He said the government had claimed that development spending had to be put on the back burner because of the floods, but it had not spent even a quarter of what he had spent as an individual on flood relief. Citing a Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT), Mehmood said that the government spent on average over Rs3,000 on each citizen in Lahore, but just Rs845 on each citizen in South Punjab.

Finance Minister Tanvir Ashraf Kaira opened the discussion, saying the government started holding pre-budget sessions two years ago because it felt it needed the input of all members about the needs of their constituencies.

Kaira said the 2010-11 budget included targets for two years, but the government had been unable to meet these targets because of the catastrophic floods this summer. He said the government would attempt to meet these targets over the next year.

He said the annual development budget for 2011-12 would focus on ongoing schemes. Projects which are at least 70 per cent complete would be finished in 2011-12, he said. The government would try to focus on underdeveloped districts, particularly in south Punjab, Cholistan and rain-fed lands.

The minister said the country was going through a recession and Punjab was affected too, since at least 81 per cent of its revenues came from the Federal Divisible Pool. He said though federal revenue had increased 10 per cent in the first six months of 2010-11, they were 17 per cent short of budget estimates. He said to increase revenue, the government would have to introduce new taxes or get better at collecting the existing taxes.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th,  2011.