PESHAWAR, Jan 1: District governments in the NWFP were given over Rs430 million during the current financial year to carry out development projects under the Provincial Finance Commission award.

The provincial government could not ensure the utilization of funds by the district governments despite releasing over Rs215 million each at the start of the first and second quarters of the year.

The 24 district governments would get Rs867.054 million during the year. Sources said the district governments had been provided half of the development funds earmarked for the financial year but they lacked the capacity to utilize those.

They said Chief Secretary Ejaz Qureshi had recently instructed the district coordination officers to speed up the execution of development schemes. Sources said the district governments blamed the provincial government's strict guidelines, untrained staff and lengthy procedure involved in making use of the funds for the situation.

"The district governments don't have the capacity to handle thedevelopment works on professional lines," said a planner.

Some district governments are yet to finalize their annualdevelopment programmes and get them passed from the local councils."The funds released to such district governments are lying unspent as unless the ADPs are passed they cannot use the development funds," sources said.