Balochistan to spend Rs26b on development

Senior Balochistan Minister Maulana Wasey has said that the government will spend Rs 26 billion on 812 development projects in the province during the current financial year.

Addressing a post-budget press briefing here on Thursday, Maulana Wasey, who also holds the portfolio of Minister for Planning and Development, said P&D would complete 349 new projects and 393 uplift projects at the end of this fiscal year.

He said the federal government had promised to give Rs120 billion in gas royalty in yearly instalment of Rs10 billion. He said the government is consulting with the federal government for establishing a rental power plant in order to prevent its agricultural lands from going waste.

“The Balochistan government will spend Rs9.8 billion for maintenance of roads and Rs2.3 billion on education,” he informed.

He said keeping in view the need of dams the federal government allocated Rs42 billion in federal PSDP for construction of 100 dams. Around 50 dams are under constructions in the province while work would be started soon on 50 others as well, he said.

The senior minister, who belongs to the JUI-F, conceded the high ratio of corruption in the province and said the government was making all-out efforts to decrease the ratio.

He described the budget as historic with huge outlay. “All the backward districts were given priority on equivalent bases and there are no chances of discrimination with any area,” he said, adding that Balochistan has been neglected for the past six decades and the representatives had raised the voice at every platform to draw the attention of the federal government towards the less developed areas.

He said Balochistan had gained substantial share under the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award. The federal government itself is taking interest to strengthen the provinces by putting at their disposal maximum resources.

“All the resources given by federal government would be spent on welfare of the people of this backward province,” he maintained.
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Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2010.