Annual budget: FATA to get Rs18.5b development funds

The education and health sector, and solarisation of public facilities will be among projects accorded high priority.

PESHAWAR: The Planning and Development Department (PDD) for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) embarked upon a comprehensive financial year development plan for FATA amounting to Rs18.5 billion, which includes a foreign aid component of Rs1.92 billion.

Administrative secretary for PDD, FATA Shahzad Khan Bangash said that 30%, or Rs4.5 billion, of the budget in the upcoming Annual Development Programmes (ADPs) will be allocated to new development projects.

The FATA secretariat has secured the approval of Governor Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and issued specific guidelines for formulation of FATA ADP for the upcoming financial year 2013-14. According to the guidelines, larger schemes with immediate and visible socioeconomic benefits shall be accorded priority and small schemes with minimum impact on the socioeconomic profile of FATA shall be discouraged. The education and health sector, and solarisation of public facilities will be among the projects accorded high priority.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 5^th, 2013.

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