Sindh CM attributes slump in development portfolio to Centre

In the previous fiscal year, Rs204b was spent on development against this year's Rs70b

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the Sindh government will not be able to spend Rs100 billion on development projects in the ongoing fiscal year.

"I will be sharing the figures in my pre-budget speech in [Sindh] Assembly. We spent Rs204b on development in the previous financial year. But this year only between Rs70 billion to Rs80 billion have been utilised for development," said the CM, while speaking to the media in Sehwan where he attended the conclusion ceremony of the three-day urs of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar on Friday.

He attributed the slump in the development portfolio to the Centre which has allegedly halted the transfer of Rs120b to be received under the National Finance Commission Award to Sindh. Shah also complained that the federal government had earmarked Rs8b to Rs9b on development projects in Sindh but the actual release so far stood at around half of the allocated amount.

He said the provincial budget slid to negative every month after payment of salaries of the provincial government's employees which was a priority to the secondary expenditures on development. "Governor Sindh [Imran Ismail] perhaps doesn't know about these facts," said Shah, when asked to comment on Ismail's statement regarding sound financial health of Sindh government.

The CM went on to claim that Sindh is not the only province which could not bring new development schemes in the ongoing fiscal year but the condition of the other provinces is almost identical.

"Though the other provinces don't disclose this due to some compulsion."

Criticising Prime Minister Imran Khan, Shah said the nation was given the hope that Khan would come with a magic wand and that the country would no longer need the support of international financial institutions (IFIs).

"The people were being told that he would bring $200b [from offshore accounts] to Pakistan and $100b from that would be paid for debt servicing to make the country self-sufficient."
Referring to Khan's statements over allegedly poor tax collection by the previous government, Shah said tax collection has decreased this year. "Shall we also say that this is because the government is involved in the theft?"
The CM praised the organisers of the three-day festival saying that the government tried to provide all required facilities to visitors besides maintaining security. According to him, around 800,000 more devotees visited Sehwan this year in comparison to the previous year when officials had put the figure at around two million.