Leaked documents: ADP funds for K-P lesser than outgoing year’s

Except for water sector, funds for all other areas are slashed

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has pitched the Annual Development Programme (ADP) budget amount for 2016-17. According to the government, the amount stands at Rs113.5 billion, greater than the K-P finance department’s estimates of Rs75.5 billion in its Budget Strategy Paper-II. However, it is around 20% less than the outgoing year’s ADP fund – Rs142 billion.

A government document, showing sector-wise allocations of developmental funds, was leaked to the media on Monday. It shows that excluding allocations for the water sector, the funds for all the sectors have been slashed.

More and less

A large chunk, Rs33.4 billion of the ADP, has been set aside for the districts. It is close to the amount allocated for districts in the outgoing year at Rs30.2 billion.

Similarly, for all the 23 sectors of the provincial government, Rs80.1 billion have been specified, while the amount was Rs111.7 billion in 2015-16. As per the document, there are 1,410 development schemes out of which 1,240 are ongoing and have been given the maximum share of Rs59.9 billion, while only 170 are new and have been given Rs 20.1 billion.

What stands first?

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led provincial government has again prioritised education and health, allocating majority of the development funds to the sectors.

The education sector has been given Rs12.3 billion, including Rs8.1 billion for elementary and secondary education and Rs4.2 for higher education.

Moreover, water and drinking water supply sectors have also been given big allocations in the proposed ADP document. The water sector has 22 new schemes, while 169 are going on. The sector has been given Rs8.2 billion, while drinking water supply schemes have been allocated Rs4.6 billion. The road sector, which consumes more funds than any other sector, has been allocated Rs12.4 billion and has 310 schemes on going schemes. Only six are new.

The document shows the allocation of Rs7 billion for local government sector, Rs4.9 billion for urban development, Rs2.13 billion for energy and power, Rs2.7 billion for special initiatives of the K-P government, Rs 2.1 billion for industries, Rs 1.6 billion for agriculture and Rs1.28 billion for relief and rehabilitation. Environment, transport and labour are among the most non-prioritised sectors with allocations of Rs36 million, Rs147 million and Rs46 million respectively.

Tentative

Officials of the department however said the figures may vary as the final consultation and meetings over the ADP-2016-17 have yet to be held. “We have important meetings after which we will be in a position to shape the final ADP,” an official of the planning and development department, who is close to the ADP planning, told The Express Tribune. 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 31^st, 2016.