Lopsided development
Pakistan’s development budget mosaic has always been on a torpedoed turf. Apart from a misbalance in provision spree, there are other unsaid considerations that go into making it either a white elephant or mere window-dressing. Fudging of figures and political partisanship are other measures that have kept quality and genuine development at bay. Thus, the federal government’s spending saw itself restricted to Rs57 billion in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, amounting to only 6% of the annual outlay, which comes as a blot on progression. But the million-dollar question is that this was done to appease the outgoing parliamentarians, and funds were waywardly dislocated for reasons of political exigency. The point that a staggering Rs23 billion were doled out by putting a curb on projects in pipelines will surely breed skeletons in the cupboard in times to come.
It is, moreover, disappointing to note that such a knee-jerk decision of federal authorities led to delay in execution of some crucial projects and were worked out to compensate for slippages in other areas. This is nothing but damage-control exercises meant to scratch each other’s back as national priorities of development are thrown to the wind. This is why Rs150 billion allocation from the Planning Ministry saw degeneration and led to efforts of managing prerequisites agreed with the IMF. It is another strange fact that the international donor did not bother to scrutinise as to what ailed the government from robbing the poor man’s purse and denying them their piece of development. It is a foregone conclusion in our politics that funds that go the legislators’ way are mostly embezzled and misappropriated.
The PSDP of Rs950 billion included Rs90 billion for parliamentarians’ schemes. But in reality the major pie of developmental programmes were hampered and lawmakers were pleased. This is unbecoming of good governance, and the fact that the underdeveloped former FATA districts were given peanuts to the tune of Rs1 billion only reflects the wayward mindset of our policy gurus.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 18th, 2023.
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