PSDP remains suspended in Balochistan

Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) in Balochistan remains suspended since October 24 this year when a ban was placed by the then Jam Kamal government on release of funds citing poor receipts and financial difficulties of the province. His government banned the utlisation of development budget completely. The notification was issued the same day when a no confidence motion was filed against chief minister Jam Kamal in the Balochistan assembly.

Despite the passage of several months and take over by a new chief minister, the provincial government has failed to reactivate the PSDP. It may be recalled that on 24th October former Chief Minister Jam Kamal resigned as CM Balochistan after the submission of no confidence motion against him by his party MPA Zahoor Buledi and Quddus Bizenjo. Sources in the Finance Department told The Express Tribune that the Balochistan PSDP is still frozen and utlisation of funds is banned after the notification. The current Quddus Bizenjo government is planning to remove the ban and release funds for PSDP projects but it has not happened so far. Official sources said that funds will only be released for 912 projects by the current government.

When approached Zahoor Buledi Balochistan’s P&D Minister confirmed the ban but said that government will lift the ban from PSDP soon and will release development funds. Buledi, however, did not answer the question that government is only considering funding 912 PSDP projects. More than 3,000 PSDP projects were mentioned in 2021-2022 PSDP. “We don’t understand why some projects have been selected for funding and others dropped,” said the officials, adding that one thing was clear that government had limited financial resources. Finance Department sources claimed the plight of other projects is unknown because no decision has been made about them.

“There is possibility that all the other projects will remain without funds at least this fiscal year,” they claimed. The total size of the Balochistan PSDP is estimated at Rs237.22 billion with more than 3,000 projects. It was evident from the day first that the size of the PSDP was too large compared to the financial resources of the province. Jam Kamal government banned the utilization of development funds due to ‘huge gaps in fund requirements for PSDP and precarious financial position of the province’. The decision to cut down the number of projects will considerably reduce the size of PSDP.