Utilisation of funds

Revelations made in a report in this newspaper about non-utilisation of funds and delay in their release by the Sindh government, have not come as much of a surprise. The report covers the first two quarters of FY2019-20. The trend shows that things will likely not be much different at the end of the current fiscal, if the experience of recent years is anything to go by. Crumbling state of civic infrastructure and increasing lack of civic facilities in various parts of the province too lead many to believe so. The report says funds allocated for many development schemes for health, education, transport, roads, irrigation, agriculture and wildlife have not been released altogether. Not a single rupee has been spent on funds released for several uplift projects for environment, climate change and coastal development.

A total of Rs319 million have been allocated mostly for projects aimed at improvement of environment, but none of these funds have been utilised showing lack of interest on the part of relevant officials in implementing the plans. An identical situation exists in the provincial energy department. An amount of Rs1.308 billion has been allocated for energy projects this fiscal. Only Rs153 million have been disbursed, and the entire amount remains unspent. The budget allocation under the head of energy is primarily aimed at filling up the gap in power supply to rural areas through solar energy. This is a serious lapse in view of the approaching summer months when temperatures soar.

An amount of Rs23 billion has been earmarked for development projects in the education sector, but here too things are unsatisfactory: out of the Rs6.53 billion that have been released only Rs2.47 billion have been spent. The story is much the same across various departments. Reports from other developing countries might explain the delay in release of funds and the slow pace of their utilisation. When the year nears its close, there is a sudden spurt in spending.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12^th, 2020.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.