Sindh talked the development talk - but will it walk the walk?

Budget earmarked funds for development schemes, but halfway through the fiscal year, little money has been spent

KARACHI: The Sindh government might claim to be breaking all past records of development in the province - but its own official figures are in dispute with reality.

On the one hand, according to the reports for the last two quarters of the 2019-2020 fiscal year, the funds allocated for many development schemes, whether they pertain to health, education, local government, transport, wildlife, roads, irrigation or agriculture, have not been released at all.

On the other hand, though, not a single rupee has been spent out of the funds released for several development projects in the environment, climate change, coastal development and energy departments.

"In the current fiscal year, Rs281 million have been allocated for the environment, climate change and coastal development departments, but nothing has been spent in the first two quarters, from July 2019 to December 2019," an official told The Express Tribune.

Failed projects: Sindh govt bids farewell to its futile development firm

A report available with The Express Tribune reveals that Rs8 million were earmarked for the study of environmental and health impacts of pesticides and chemical fertilisers in various districts of Sindh, including Larkana, Mirpurkhas, Jacobabad, Kashmore, Ghotki, Sukkur, Tando Allahyar and Badin. Yet no money has been spent in this regard.

The provincial government also set aside Rs10 million for awareness and educational projects for the protection of the environment and conservation of natural resources. However, none of these funds were utilised over the last two quarters, reflecting the relevant officials' lack of interest in implementing the plans.

Similarly, Rs20 million have been allocated for the development and upgradation of Sindh's environmental profile through the environmental information system. The fate of this scheme, too, hangs in the balance, with zero per cent expenditure from the funds.

Powered off

The situation is the same in the provincial energy department. According to budget books, Rs1.308 billion have been allocated for energy schemes this fiscal year. Only Rs153 million have been disbursed, though - and of that, nothing has yet been spent on the proposed schemes.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, a senior official in the provincial planning and development department explained that the Sindh Solar Energy Project had been devised to increase solar power generation by setting up solar parks in various districts, thus providing electricity to areas that remain off-grid.

The project, he revealed, was launched with a cost of $103 million. The current year's budget earmarked Rs150 million for the purpose, but no funds have yet been released.

Another scheme, aiming to electrify primary health through solar technology in different districts, was planned with an estimated cost of Rs438 million. Again, though, the expenditure status shows no utilisation of funds. Biogas plants and a number of village electrification projects, too, lie in the doldrums, despite ambitious plans.

Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh, talking to The Express Tribune, explained that there were some necessary formalities that had taken time to be completed, thus causing a delay in kick-starting the schemes.

"We are now going to award the tenders to provide solar facilities in over 250 basic health centres in the province," he stated, adding that the solar energy project, funded by the World Bank, would soon be initiated under a public-private partnership.

On paper only

The budget books also reveal that the Sindh government had apportioned over Rs23 billion for the education sector alone, covering schools as well as colleges and universities. The progress reports for the last two quarters, however, show that Rs6.53 billion in funds have been released, and only Rs2.47 billion spent on planned projects so far. For dozens of schemes, no work has yet been initiated.

"Under the Sustainable Development Goals, the government has allocated over Rs208 million for the construction of six-room buildings for shelter-less primary schools in various districts," said sources in the Sindh Education Department. "Similarly, Rs750 million are earmarked for the rehabilitation of 'dangerous' primary schools with high enrollment, to provide them with additional classrooms and missing facilities, but work has not started on any of this so far."

The reports further stated that the Sindh government was to undertake the solarisation of rural schools, at the proposed cost of Rs32 million, but again, the funds are yet to be expended. The upgradation of primary schools to middle schools and the introduction of computer education in middle schools are also projects that remain in the pipelines despite provisions being made for them in the books.

Similarly, with around Rs4 billion allocated for college education, roughly 10 per cent has been spent, while out of the Rs3 billion university and boards budget, only Rs795 million have been released and about a third of that has been used up between July and December.

Waiting for a transfusion

Meanwhile, the provincial health department has a development portfolio worth Rs13.5 billion - and an expenditure of a mere Rs1.7 billion.

The purchase of microscopic endoscopy systems for the province's teaching hospitals, the construction of a 50-bed hospital in Gulshan-e-Hadeed and the establishment of cancer wards at the Nuclear Institute of Medicine and Radiotherapy, Jamshoro, are some of the projects awaiting the department's attention.

A common pattern

A similar trend is visible across other government departments as well, as proposed projects stagnate. The agriculture department, allocated Rs3.75 billion, has received Rs828 million and utilised Rs296 million. The wildlife and forest department, due Rs1 billion this year, has received Rs78 million, of which around 80 per cent have been used up.

For Sindh, a decade stuck in development hell

The labour and human resources department has a development budget of Rs126 million, with not a single rupee spent yet. And the same pattern continues in the mines and mineral development department as well as the provincial revenue board.

Sindh Information Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah explained that the government was focusing on completing older schemes rather than turning to new ones. "The chief minister, in his budget speech, had also announced that we should first complete ongoing schemes and give less importance to fresh ones," he said, stating that the allocated funds would not lapse. "Work will be carried out on the new projects too," he added.

"We are also facing financial constraints because of the federal government's lethargic attitude and its attempts to hold back our share from the divisible pool," he claimed, maintaining that this had also hampered Sindh's development projects.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11^th, 2020.