09 February 2004	Monday	17 Zilhaj 1424

PESHAWAR, Feb 8: The number of schemes in the primary education sector, scheduled to be launched during the current financial year, has been slashed from 355 to 308 after the reprioritization of the provincial annual development programme for the 2003-04 financial year.

At the time of presentation of budget for the year 2003-04, the provincial government had announced that about 355 schemes in the primary education sector would be launched.

However, the provincial government slashed the number to 308 after it reprioritized its annual development plan to fulfil a condition set by the World Bank for the release of the second tranche of $90 million under its Structural Adjustment Credit to finance the NWFP's three-year provincial reform programme.

The lending agency had asked the provincial government to re-prioritize its ADP to cut down the number of new schemes in an effort to control its throw-forward liability.

The provincial government's throw-forward liability (the funds that a province would need to complete its ongoing schemes in the years to come) had gone as high as Rs50 billion at the start of the current financial year due to the government's decision to launch over 1,000 new schemes under the current year's ADP.

Officials said under the revamped development plan a total of 308 new schemes would be launched in the primary education sector falling under the jurisdiction of the Schools and Literacy Department.

Under the revised development plan, some 47 schemes - out of 355 originally planned - have been put on low priority (Priority-II). "Though these 47 schemes have not been dropped from the ADP, no funds have been allocated for them during the current year," said an officer, adding that "these schemes might be taken up in the next financial year or in the years to come depending upon the availability of resources."

Most of these 47 schemes had been included in the original ADP on the instructions of the chief minister or elected representatives belonging to the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, the sources said.

They said the provincial government had not dropped these schemes altogether to avoid reaction from the MPs, particularly MMA's members of the provincial assembly.

While these 47 new schemes would make part of the ADP without having been allocated any funds, three new schemes in the primary education sector have been scrapped from the ADP.

"These three schemes were found to be least productive hence declared unfeasible when the departments concerned carried out the exercise to re-prioritize the primary education sector's ADP," said a development planner of the province.

Though the number of new schemes in the primary education sector to be funded under the current fiscal's ADP came down from 355 to 308, the amount allocated for the new schemes portfolio would remain the same.

A sum of Rs1,567 million had been earmarked to launch 355 new schemes in the primary education sector. A similar amount would now be distributed among the 308 schemes which would be launched shortly.

The new arrangements, said the sources, would help the government complete these 308 schemes in a shorter period of time. Under the previous plan, the average estimated time required to complete 355 schemes ranged between five and seven years.

Now with the number of new schemes going down the average period each of the schemes would take to complete ranges between three and four years, enabling the government to bring down its throw-forward liability considerably.

Reduction in the number of new schemes would enable the government to allocate more funds to each of the new schemes, thus the number of schemes to be completed during the current financial year would also improve.

"More than 200 new schemes which involve minor works would be completed by the end of the current financial year as a result of greater allocation of funds," said the development planner.

Apart from the new schemes, some 22 ongoing schemes in the primary education sector would be provided around Rs200 million during the current financial year. The plan for the ongoing schemes remained unchanged as the re-prioritization campaign was focussed to cut down the number of new schemes.