June 5, 2002	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 23,1423

KARACHI, June 4: What can be called in mild words ‘in an indecent haste’ the Provincial Finance Commission (PFC), on instructions of the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB), began on Tuesday the proceedings to draw up an award of funds distribution among the 16 districts of the province.

The NRB on Friday meeting of the National Finance Commission (NFC) at Islamabad instructed all the four provincial governments to push through finance awards for the 106 district governments before the provinces present their respective budgets.

On Tuesday, the re-constituted Provincial Finance Commission (PFC) of Sindh discussed various options of fund sharing with and revenue generation of 16 districts in the province and has formed two working groups.

One group is headed by Jehangir Siddiqui, a stock broker inducted in the PFC on Tuesday. This group will consider the options available for allocation of development funds to the provinces and related affairs.

The second group is led by Sohail Wajahat Siddiqui of the Siemens, a multinational engineering concern. His group will draw up a programme of revenue generation for each of the 16 districts.

Population, revenue generation capacity, backwardness and all other relevant factors are expected to be taken into consideration for allocation of funds to 16 districts of the province.

Sources associated with the PFC said that these two working groups will start their exercise from Wednesday and are expected to finalize their recommendations before the weekend when the PFC is expected to adopt them.

The PFC award for distribution of funds in the 16 districts will be incorporated in the next Sindh budget likely to be presented on June 18.

On Tuesday, the Sindh government inducted three more members in the PFC. They are Jehangir Siddiqui, Sohail Wajahat Siddiqui and Ashraf Wasti of Applied Economic Research of Karachi University. Nazar Sheikh, a retired civil servant nominated earlier has ceased to be member of the PFC.

The Sindh Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh is the Chairman of the PFC. The Commission includes Finance Secretary, Additional Chief Secretary Planning and Development, Accountant General, Syed Sardar Ahmad a retired civil servant and three new members.

While the National Finance Commission (NFC) is expected to delay its award, the NRB is pressurising the provinces to move swiftly in finalising the awards of their respective PFCs.

“It means Sindh will continue to receive funds on the basis of 1981 population census but will be asked to share it with districts on the basis of 1997 population census,” a close watcher of the NFC and PFC proceedings said.

The Sindh government did not mince words to express its serious reservations on the NRB plans of fiscal devolution. “It is feared that decentralization without adequate resources may pose a serious challenge for the sustainability of the sub state governments and may strain the fiscal space of the provincial government further,” an official document of Sindh government ‘budget analysis 2001-02’ says.