Balochistan government has expressed serious concern over the prolonged and unnecessary delay in the release of funds by the federal government under the Federal Public Sector Development Program (FPSDP) to the province.
In this regard, Chief Minister Balochistan, Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo chaired a high-level meeting, which reviewed the pace of development projects under the provincial and federal PSDPs.
Additional Chief Secretary (Development), Hafiz Abdul Basit, Finance Secretary Qambar Dashti, Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary Imran Gichki, and other relevant officials also attended the meeting.
The meeting was informed that the estimated cost of federal projects in the province this fiscal year is Rs103 billion. For these projects, Rs26 billion should be released every quarter and the federal government should have released Rs76 billion so far, but the province only received Rs31 billion as a result the pace of work on the development projects was painfully slow.
In the meeting, it was decided to lodge a protest on the part of the Balochistan government against the negligence and step-motherly treatment with the federal government.
The chief minister said that the ministers of planning and development and finance held meetings with the federal ministers Ahsan Iqbal and Ishaq Dar in Islamabad where they were repeatedly assured that the federal government was working on the matter and the funds would soon be released but nothing practical came out of these assurances.
The chief minister said that every constitutional and legal procedure will be adopted to protect the constitutional rights of the province.
While giving a briefing on the progress of the development projects of the current financial year on behalf of ACS planning and development, the meeting was informed that according to the budget calendar, the preparations for the development program of the next financial year have been initiated.
Finance secretary briefed the meeting on the financial situation and release of development funds in the province and on this occasion the chief minister directed speeding up the release of funds to ensure the timely completion of projects. He noted that the decisions made at the meeting should be implemented without delay.
Background
In January, Balochistan National Party (Awami) secretary general and provincial Minister for Agriculture Mir Asadullah Baloch said the federal government has not paid Rs40 billion for the current financial year to the province and Rs11 billion were outstanding for the last financial year.
He said that the flood-affected people were in desperate need of support but the province was always left alone in such natural disasters.
Talking to APP, he said the official matters were badly paralyzed because of the prevailing financial crisis in the province.
“Balochistan wants to get a suitable share of assistance for the rehabilitation of flood affectees pledged by global partners at the donors conference held in Geneva,” he added.
According to the constitution, Balochistan’s share in the national finance commission (NFC) award was protected, but the province received Rs11 billion less during the last financial year, while the payment for this quarter of the current financial year, which is close to Rs40 billion, was not provided.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 30th, 2023.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ