PESHAWAR, June 9: The federal government has so far not entertained the NWFP governor’s request to increase the size of the Public Sector Development Programme for 2003-04 to Rs4 billion for carrying out projects in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, officials told Dawn on Monday.

Earlier, the NWFP governor’s Fata secretariat had sent in a request in this regard after it was learnt that the federal government pledged to provide Rs3.006 billion for Fata region, comprising seven tribal agencies and six Frontier Regions.

A secretariat official told Dawn that the Project Coordination Committee had initially recommended a sum of Rs2.356 billion in connection with the PSDP for the Fata region for the current financial year.

Later, he said, the National Economic Council had, in the light of the PPC’s recommendations, approved a PSDP package amounting to Rs2.356 billion for Fata, which is one of the least developed areas of the country.

The federal government had, after receiving complaints from the Fata secretariat, increased the PSDP for Fata, raising it from Rs2.356 billion to Rs3.006 billion, sources said, adding that the NWFP governor had again requested the Centre to revise the projected figures for the PSDP allocations for Fata.

Official were confident that NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah would take up the matter within the next few days with the federal government.

Officials said that differences between federal government and the Fata secretariat had also delayed the current annual development programme for the tribal areas.

The government, they said, has decided to allot a major chunk of the ADP to the irrigation, agriculture sectors and income generating activities in Fata to create job opportunities in the area.

During the previous year, Fata had received over Rs2 billion in development funds from the federal government. Later, President Gen Pervez Musharraf had released an additional amount of Rs1 billion as a special development package for Fata.