Annual development programme: Sindh govt remains miserly, spends only 53% funds

Rs63.4 billion spent out of released amount of Rs119.2 billion, according to released position of 11MFY16

KARACHI: The Sindh government could spend only 53% of the funds released under the provincial annual development programme (ADP) during the first 11 months of 2015-16, official statistics show.

According to the “released position” of the provincial public-sector development programme for 2015-16 as on May 27, the Sindh government spent Rs63.4 billion in the 11-month period out of the released amount of Rs119.2 billion.



The actual development expenditure between July 1 and May 27 equalled only 44.6% of the allocated provincial ADP budget of Rs142 billion for 2015-16.

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has been consistently criticising the federal government for ignoring Sindh while allocating funds for the public-sector development programme.

This is despite the fact that development spending by the Sindh government, led by his party since 2008, remains wide of the mark: it released 84% of the allocated funds while the actual expenditure could not cross even half of the budgetary target by the end of May.

Sector-wise breakdown

The Sindh government had promised Rs10 billion for the education department at the outset of 2015-16. It released Rs8.3 billion or 83% until May 27. However, it was able to actually spend only Rs3.7 billion in July-May, which equals 45% of the released amount. The development spending in the education sector accounted for less than 38% of the earmarked budget for 2015-16.

The Sindh government had promised Rs18.76 billion for local government, public health engineering and rural development. But it released more than the promised amount during the first 11 months of 2015-16, as the released funds amounted to over Rs20 billion. Yet these departments could utilise only Rs10.6 billion, or 53% of the released amount in the 11-month period.



Similarly, the government set aside Rs9 billion for the works and services department, but ended up releasing 112% of the promised amount until May 27. However, its utilisation clocked up at just Rs6.4 billion or 64% of the released amount.

Provincial development funds generally remain unused for the most part of the fiscal year, but their release gathers pace in the last quarter.



The Sindh government had allocated Rs13 billion for the health sector in 2015-16. But it released Rs9.5 billion until May 27 while the utilised funds constituted just 31% of the released amount.

The industries department received only 25% of the released amount of Rs570 million in July-May. The total annual allocation for the industries department was Rs2.5 billion, which means the department could utilise only 5.7% of the originally allocated funds.

Energy, agriculture, and planning and development departments could use only 68%, 56% and 38% of the released funds, respectively, during the first 11 months of 2015-16, official data shows.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 8^th, 2016.

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