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| June 23, 2003 | Monday | Rabi-us-Sani 22,1424 |
Centre to meet funds shortfall: Balochistan development plan highlighted
QUETTA, June 22: Balochistan’s Planning and Development Minister Maulana Abdul Wasey estimates a total development financing of over Rs27 billion in the next fiscal year.
Bulk of this amount — Rs12.44 billion — will be invested under the federal government’s development programme.
In his post budget press conference on Sunday at the Balochistan Secretariat, Maulana Wasey focussed only on the development programme.
Balochistan’s own development programme, he pointed out, envisages Rs9.30 billion investment. For it, the provincial government would generate a revenue surplus amount of Rs535 million, indicated in 2003-4 budget, he added.
The minister said that other financing sources were foreign assistance of Rs1.19 billion and the Asian Development Bank loan of over Rs5 billion out of which Rs2.80 billion would be invested in development programme.
Replying a question, Planning and Development Additional Chief Secretary Nadir Ali said that federal government had given of overcoming the shortfall in the development programme.
Maulana Wasey said that over Rs2 billion would be provided under Omani grant for construction of Gwadar airport, Rs458 million under Khushhal Pakistan, Rs1.30 billion under DERA and DIMRIC and Rs1 billion under prime minister’s special package.
Setting up of a women university in Quetta, Maulana Wasey said, was the main feature of the development programme for the next year. Rs100 million had been allocated and land had been purchased for it, he added.
The minister said that the provincial government would arrange more funds for it, which would be launched in the next financial year.
Other features are allocation of Rs100 million to introduce computer literacy in all high schools and colleges of the province from the next fiscal year.
He said that angigraphy section would be opened in the Quetta Government Hospital and henceforth the local hospital would have the facility to perform open-heart surgery. An MRI machine was also being installed in the Bolan Medical Collage hospital.
Replying a question, the minister conceded that 28 schemes had to be dropped from the final development plan because they lacked technical and financial viabilities.
He said it was wrong to say that the schemes were deleted simply because they related to the constituencies of the opposition members in Balochistan Assembly.
The additional chief secretary explained that very small amount was provided for each of the schemes and it would have taken years to get them completed. By deleting the schemes a substantial amount of around Rs2 billion had been saved and re- allocated in those schemes, which were in the final stages of completion.
Maluana Wasey refuted allegations that development funds were being invested only in the constituencies of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) members’ constituencies. He claimed that districts Kharan, Makran and a few others had been sanctioned huge amounts.
To another question, he said that share of district governments in the development funds was passed on to the districts without any delay.
Responding yet another question about allocation of funds for rehabilitation of Karezs (Under ground water channels), the minister for planing and development said that personally he was not in favour of allocating funds for it. “It will be a wastage of money when mostly Karezs have dried up in the province due to depleting water table in the province,” Maulana Wasey said and added that his department would not provide funds for it.
He said that provincial government had diverted around Rs300 million for other projects, which were earlier allocated for rehabilitation of Karezs. The amount would be spent on the development of agriculture and public health engineering.
The senior minister said that the provincial government had made efforts to reduce dependence on the foreign aid to avoid accepting unnecessary conditions of the aid agencies. He said that government had allocated 35 per cent of its PSDP for the constructing new road and improving the existing communication system.
He said that the next financial year budget Rs3.25 billion would be available for 299 schemes, which included 113 ongoing schemes.
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