Demanding more: K-P finds funds released by Centre to be insufficient

The federal government has released billions of rupees to the province of its share in net hydel profit arrears, funds

PESHAWAR:

Although the federal government has released billions of rupees to the province of its share in net hydel profit arrears and other funds, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government is unhappy with the allocations. It claims the money is insufficient to meet K-P’s needs.

A fuller bank account

According to information collected by The Express Tribune using the K-P Right to Information Act 2013, the federal government has provided Rs5.6 billion to K-P for its net hydel profit arrears till March 2015. The amount includes Rs5.4 billion for the previous fiscal year (2013-2014) and Rs200 million for the ongoing year.

Similarly, in gas royalties, the provincial government received Rs2.79 billion for the ongoing fiscal year (till March); it received Rs3.87 billion for its general sales tax share, and for tobacco development cess, it received a little over Rs199 million for the current year (till February).

Moreover, the federal government has also given K-P Rs172.7 million as an additional 1% share of the National Finance Commission award for the fight against militancy. This includes Rs9.2 million in arrears from the previous year.

Asking for a raise

When asked if the provincial government has any projects planned to utilise this money, Minister for Finance Muzaffar Said told The Express Tribune the government is working on investing the funds in the construction of 360 small dams and feasibility reports of these projects were being drawn up.

However, expressing discontent over the released funds, Said said they were insufficient to run K-P. According to the minister, the influx of internally displaced people from the tribal areas has put more pressure on the province’s infrastructure.

“The 1% additional share that K-P gets in the NFC award for war against terrorism is also not enough to meet the province’s financial needs for countering militancy,” said Said. “We want the federal government to increase the share from 1% to 3% as K-P is suffering badly due to terrorism and is spending millions in giving compensation to victims.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2015.