With the provincial government strapped for cash, Peshawar has decided to complete development projects by taking loans worth Rs47 billion.
The vast majority, or around Rs38 billion - 80.85 per cent, comprise loans from foreign sources.
Documents for the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) budget for the financial year 2020-21, available with The Express Tribune, show that 18 per cent of all development programmes will be funded through foreign investment.
The documents show that Rs540 million in loans have been taken for completing various projects.
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It added that the government has also taken loans for uplift schemes in different sectors, including Rs10.82 billion for building roads, Rs9.99 billion for transportation projects, Rs2.55 billion for elementary and secondary education, Rs8.4 billion for energy and power, Rs4.5 billion for agriculture, Rs3.25 billion for urban development projects, Rs2.35 billion for water schemes, Rs3.25 billion for the finance department, Rs14.35 billion for healthcare services, Rs11.17 billion for sports and tourism, and Rs10 million for sanitation.
The documents further show that Rs86 billion were allocated for development programmes which also included Rs38 billion in foreign assistance
As many as Rs31.91 billion has been sourced from the Asian Development Bank, Rs11.63 billion from the ADA, Rs3.32 billion from the European Union (EU), Rs2 billion from the World Bank, Rs1.01 billion from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Rs120 million from the Italian development bank.
Last month, the K-P government had unveiled and approved a balanced, tax-free budget of Rs923 billion for the next fiscal year 2020-21.
Of this, Rs739 billion was for the settled and Rs184 billion for the merged districts.
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There was a special focus on reviving the economy which has been crippled by the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
The money set aside for development projects is Rs318 billion, of which, Rs222 billion is for settled and Rs96 billion for erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), which have now been merged with the province.
The provincial government had made a record allocation of Rs124 billion for the health sector as compared to Rs85 billion for the outgoing fiscal year, reflecting an increase of 46%.
Keeping in view the health emergency created due to the pandemic, the provincial government had also allocated Rs24 billion for Covid-19 emergency.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 13th, 2020.
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