2011-12: 150b rupees of the Rs220b ADP of the last fiscal year was spent.
The Punjab government has spent just Rs70 billion of its Rs250 billion development budget for fiscal 2012-13 in the first seven months of the year, around half of it in Lahore alone, The Express Tribune has learnt.
Under finance rules, the Punjab government should have spent around Rs145 billion on development by the end of January, but had only spent Rs70 billion. Of this, Rs34.19 billion was spent on projects in Lahore, the vast majority of it, Rs31 billion, on the Metro Bus Service.
A senior Finance Department official said it was normal for utilisation of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) to remain low in the first six months of the financial year, and for spending to pick up in the remaining six months. He said that the low utilisation was due to the poor financial position of the province.
Last year, the Punjab government utilised only Rs150 billion of the Rs220 billion ADP presented for 2011-12.
In Lahore in 2012-13, apart from the spending on the Metro Bus Service, the Punjab government has spent Rs1.65 billion on the Kalma Chowk underpasses and Rs540 million on the Model Town underpass. Another Rs1 billion came out of the provincial kitty for the purchase of 100 buses, originally meant to be plied on the MBS corridor, but later given to girls colleges.
Other notable expenses included Rs4 billion for the procurement of 100,000 laptops, which are being handed out to students who perform well in exams. The Energy Department spent Rs2.5 billion on solar lamps, being handed out to 240,000 students under the Ujala programme.
Around Rs1.447 billion has been spent on the Pirwadhai Mor underpass and flyover project.
Another Rs1.25 billion has been spent on the Abdullahpur underpasses in Faisalabad, which involved the construction of three underpasses beneath the Tariqabad bridge leading to Chak Jhumra Road.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 3rd, 2013.
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I appreciate Shahbaz Sharif for his wonderful projects done all over Punjab and wish him to be the next Prime Minister of Pakistan. guys don't criticize the good job done in Pakistan. Long term investments are important in building the nations. No body is criticizing Federal Govt of wasting huge money on Benazir Income Support Program at the cost of other development projects of ERRA.
The CM of Punjab has done development work in Sialkot, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Multan and Bahawalpur; in all of Punjab's cities. I think people are just jealous of the work done in Punjab. I would rather have a CM like Shahbaz Sharif who gets things done unlike other politicians who just take money and do nothing.
@Haris Javed: he has done development in pindi as well
@Shakir Lakhani:
Comparing Karachi with Lahore can be a fool's idea. Karachi is a metropolitan city, it has the only port, HOs of major national/multinational companies and much more. Karachi is every Pakistani's city. There can be no comparison of Karachi with any city of Pakistan. By the way I live in Multan and love Karachi! ;)
My vote is for Shahbaz Sharif for the position of Mayor of Lahore. This is the best he can do...
i am a citizen of Lahore but to all those who have voted for 'no' above, let's put it this way, Punjab's Total Population is 72,585,000 Largest city is Lahore with 6,658,393 people (any body laughing at this figure can go to the robust Punjab Govt portal) this amounts to less than 10% of the total population (9.17% to be precise). there are remaining 65,926,607 people in punjab living in 35 other administrative districts which constitute 90.83% of Punjab!! ARE THEY LIVING IN SOMALIA??????
@ JAAG, only the other day two MNA's were caught stealing gas worth millions in Punjab. We have to compete with Faisalabad factories (which do not pay any taxes and steal electricity and gas). The SNGPL has lost nine billion rupees worth of gas due to theft last year. As for line losses, WAPDA has 45%. The situation in Karachi is much better now, in those places where electricity is stolen there is load-shedding, but where there is no theft, we have no load-shedding. As for income tax, Karachi people pay the most, besides paying sales tax and customs duties. While it is true that there are tax-thieves in Karachi, the quantum is not so much as in other cities.
@Jan Muhammad: Where is there stability and development in Pakistan? Where is the best place to be in Pakistan? Then ask yourself what is the achievement of Punjab - it is the best place in Pakistan due to its people and leadership. Not just Lahore but any place in Punjab!
lakhani ji give figures in support of ur high claims. tax collection in karachi is not due to karachi business people but due to presence of many head offices of banks, insurance companies and multi-nation companies. just check line losses in karachi, unprecedented all our Pakistan i-e 53% while line losses in lhore r less than 8%. karachi badly needs new leadership which at-least give her public transport. railways and public transport r key for development. just remember the days when we all were campaigning against motorway yet in final analysis we proved wrong. no doubt there r problems in the way we r doing development. it is heavily centralized yet that centralized model of development is there every where not only in pak but also in india, iran etc. but in given circumstances we should support those projects which directly give benefits to common people. we should learn to criticize or praise any public project irrespective of party position.
funny the correspondent put projects in lahore as old as 11 months in his story which forgot for other areas
"Lahore, without any doubt, has become a parasite for the tax payers of rest of Punjab". Karachi, on the other hand, feeds entire Sindh as well as most of the rest of Pakistan!
common... 50% is not a correct figure. ..There must b relative comparison b/w all the CMs...
whatever he is doing is good for the people of Pakistan. ..
"Well done is better than well said''
Stories (not news) like these are the cause of disunity amongst our people.
but they are better than ppp..
The other parties should highlight this as much as possible. For democracy to work criticism, relentless criticism is important. The media has been too positive of the Sharifs despite the fact that they are at best one-eyed amongst the blind.
@AK: What has been spent on health?Crime rates have risen enormously in Lahore during these 5 yrs. What is achievement of Punjab govt?
There are quite a few people hoping against hope that the metro bus will turn out to be a big flop just because they don't like the party who did it...Or perhaps its just that newspapers have taken a vow to be anti-present-government no matter what.
If you don't acknowledge the good that our politicians when occasionally they do manage some good...what incentive is there then for them to do anything?
Lahore and every SINGLE city is this country NEEDs proper transportation. SS got off his behind and did it. End of story.
I m not a PMLn supporter but atleast they are doing something.The other thing that i like about them is they dont name every other infrastructure project,college,university,bridge etc after someone from their family like the rest,which really sucks.
Compare this spending with BISP which has made the nation beggers.
Other political parties should high light it in up coming elections.
But at least he's spending something on the People of Punjab, right? But I wonder where'd the Rs. 70 billion go, which was presented to GoP last year (2011-12) for ADP?
Well there is a series of articles from ET against metro bus service. What is your probem ET. on a daily basis more than 100 thousand people are using it as a transport. Do you have a problem with that.
Would you rather have a half-a-park in every pind of punjab. Lahore is the Profit center makes sense to promote it
This is not new because this is every minister's most top priority that he/she must spend developing budget in his/her own area first then in the other parts of the country.For instance,Yousuf Raza Gillani spent lots of funds in Multan on roads and flyovers,Sindh's ministers are spending lots of funds in Karachi and Raja Pervez Ashraf recently issued billions of Rupees in his constituency in Gojra etc etc to increase his/her voters' bank.......
Whatever they have or have not been spending in Punjab seems to be working since it is the only stable and developing province in the country. I don't know whether the budget figures are balanced out by development projects in the rest of the province but clearly all of Punjab's cities and areas have seen infrastructure improvements.
whats bad in it?in KPK i dont even see anything like development..by the way i am IMran khan supporter and will make him win atleast in KPK
The govt. has asked the provinces to post a budget surplus to help finance the fiscal deficit at the federal level.
Lahore is a mega city where Pakistanis from all corners come to work. What is the proportion of Karachi in Sindh? Can someone tell?
On the other spending , I don't agree with the laptops distribution but solar panels are a good idea .
Punjab government is hindering the implementation of devolution of power. That is the reason all of Punjab's budget is being utilized in Lahore city alone.
Mindset: underpass, bridge, more underpasses, buses, laptop handouts (or youth buyouts)
Apart from feeling like roadworks is the business to be in while PMLN is in power (in Lahore only, of course)..i cant help thank god Pakistan doesn't have chronic issues related to health, illiteracy, malnourishment.
there r multiple issues in budget spending yet the major one is transparency. spending on public transport does not mean that its beneficiaries will be lhories alone. media should encourage spendings on public transport system as it is the key missing area from last decades. media should not indulge herself in centre province fight. Karachi should follow lhore and establish public transport in city.
Lahore rocks, Punjab shocks!!!
Approximately 12% of a province's budget spent on one project in one city. Bravo! And Rs. 2.5 billion spent on distributing solar lamps to students. It's like the Punjab Government is acknowledging the fact that we are going back into the stone ages and there is nothing we can do about it. This Rs. 2.5 billion and better part of this 31 billion spent on metro bus project should have been utilised in setting up power generating units in the province. May be its time to remind our beloved khadam-e-aala that he is CM Punjab, not mayor of Lahore.
My vote for Showbaz to become Minister for Roads and Highways!!
What abt development in multan, bahawalpur, ryk, muzzafargarh, DGK, even atttock, jhang and yet people say punjab govt is doing well..
Maybe shahbaz thought he was cm of lahore...not punjab?
Only explanation I can think of....
What a misleading heading. 34.19 billion out of 250 billion is spent in Lahore, and we are concerned as if everything is already spent on Lahore ? At least Punjab government is spending something on its people. I am afraid other governments have done ZERO, please list down all what the other provinces have done in first 6-7 months of last fiscal year and where have they spent their budgets ?