‘Revenue collection target ambitious but achievable’
The Rs91 billion revenue collection target for the next year was ambitious, the Punjab finance minister, Tanveer Ashraf Kaira, said on Tuesday while addressing a post budget press conference, yet he insisted that the government would try to achieve it.
He was flanked by provincial secretary for finance, Tariq Pasha, and Planning and Development Board chairman, Javed Aslam.
“This year the Board of Revenue collected 20 per cent more than the target and the Excise and Taxation (E&T) collection was also 28 per cent higher than the previous year,” he said.
Kaira said that the 7th NFC Award empowered the provinces to collect GST on services. He said the government would bank on it to achieve the revenue target.
He added that about 60 per cent of the GST from the telecom sector was generated from the Punjab. The government was expecting to collect Rs40billion, out of the total RS47billion estimate from services, from the telecom sector, he said.
He said that no funds have been allocated for the Lahore Ring Road (LRR) project. The Rs4billion previously allocated for the project would be used to complete the ongoing work, he added.
He said that the government has also discontinued the Green Tractor Scheme and the Modern Village project. About the latter, the minister said that there were reports about people using it for political gains. He said that the government had decided in principle to make no allocations for the project.
In response to a question on the Sasti Rooti scheme, Kaira said that the concerns were debated in a cabinet meeting and the government had decided to continue it. He added that a Sasti Roti Authority was being set up to identify the shortcomings and improve the procedures.
Speaking on new initiatives, he mentioned that solar-powered tube wells and three liver transplant centres were the two most significant development projects sanctioned in the budget.
He said that the government has allocated Rs2 billion to set up solar tube wells across the province.
He added that the liver transplant centres would be established in Rawalpindi, Lahore and Multan.
He mentioned that the government had so far utilised Rs110 billion allocated for the Annual Development Plan (ADP) for the year 2009-10. He hoped that the utilisation would cross the 90 per cent of the revised estimate in due time.
Kaira said the public debt had increased due to the converting of the overdraft amount into a loan. He said that the government would pay Rs21 billion in debt servicing in the coming year.
Responding to a query about devolution of departments previously on the concurrent list, he said that the coming year would be a transition year for every province. Eventrually, all departments on the list will be transferred.
He said that the government had decided to carry out third party validation for all projects costing more than Rs100 million. He hoped that this would help improve the quality of work.
Published in the Express Tribune, June 16th, 2010.