PESHAWAR, Jan 22: NWFP is likely to miss the annual recovery target of abiana with a big gap after it achieved only 23 per cent of the annual target at the end of the first six months of the current financial year, according to official sources.

The provincial government has set a total of Rs257m target under abiana (water charges) - one of the major heads of provincial own receipts.

However, at the close of the first half of the current financial year the provincial government recorded recoveries of Rs60m from abiana making it difficult to meet the annual target or record recoveries any thing closer to the yearly target set for the current fiscal.

The collection made under abiana makes some 23 per cent of the total annual target under this head and 47 per cent of the Rs128m target the province was supposed to meet on proportionate basis at the close of the first half of the 2001-02 fiscal year.

Interestingly, the abiana recoveries made this time round appears to be less than the amount recovered under the same head in the corresponding during the last financial year, according to the sources.

At the close of the first half of the 2000-01 financial year, the provincial government had raised a total of Rs65m — some Rs65m less than this time around.

Similarly, out of a total annual target of Rs11m under the head of local rate the provincial government recorded a collection of Rs2.5m at the close of the first six months of the current financial year.

The revenue recorded under this head appears to be only 22.7 per cent of the total annual target and 46 per cent of the target the province was supposed to achieve on proportionate basis at the close of the first half of the current financial year.

In addition to the abiana and local rate, the province, said the sources, was not likely to even achieve the revenue target it had set under the head of ushr for the current financial year.

The provincial government has set a target of Rs1.7m ushr of which it collected just over Rs500,000 in July-December.