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ISLAMABAD, Feb 18: Development expenditure during first half (July-December) of the current fiscal year stood at only 30 per cent of its Rs160 billion target for the whole year, Dawn has learnt.
Official statistics provided to Dawn by sources in the Planning Commission suggest that total releases for Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) during the first six months of the current fiscal was recorded at 34 per cent of the annual allocations.
Secretary planning Javed Sadiq Malik informed the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Wednesday that total releases for the infrastructure sector stood at 37 per cent, of which only 33 per cent has so far been utilized.
In the social sector, 28 per cent of the annual allocations was released by the federal government but only 23 per cent could be utilized. Similarly, 30 per cent releases were made for other sectors by the federal government, of which only 25 per cent could be utilized as on December 31, 2003.
The sources said the Ecnec meeting, presided over by finance minister Shaukat Aziz, however, expressed satisfaction over the pace of implementation of the public sector projects because the releases and expenditure was comparatively higher than last year.
The utilization has remained low despite the fact that principal accounting officers of the relevant ministries and divisions had been authorized to draw up to 50 per cent of the total allocation under the social sector and 45 per cent for infrastructure projects without prior approval from the federal government.
The sources said there were a total of 413 PSDP projects. The Ecnec reviewed progress of 260 projects on Wednesday. Balochistan was released around 70 per cent of its annual budgeted allocation but it could utilize only 11 per cent of the total funds.
PUNJAB: The Punjab was released an amount of Rs30.5 billion during the first six months of the current fiscal year, which was about 39 per cent of its allocated share. The province could, however, utilize only Rs7.644 billion or 25 per cent of the PSDP allocation. Punjab is currently implementing 559 schemes.
SINDH: An amount of Rs12.9 billion was released for PSDP projects in Sindh, which was around 33 per cent of its total allocation. The utilization of PSDP in Sindh, however, was Rs2.575 billion or 20 per cent of the total allocation. The province is currently undertaking 1675 schemes.
NWFP: An amount of Rs14.696 billion was released to NWFP during the first six months of the current fiscal year, which was around 43 per cent of its total allocation. The province could, however, utilize only Rs3.680 billion or 25 per cent of its total PSDP allocation for the whole year. The province is carrying around 1280 schemes at present.
BALOCHISTAN: The province was released around Rs9.3 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year, which was about 70 per cent of the total PSDP allocation. The province could utilize only Rs1.004 billion or 11 per cent of the total allocation. Around 828 schemes are currently in progress in Balochistan.
"At this pace of spending, the government would hardly be able to utilise Rs100-110 billion by end of the fiscal year against a budgetary allocation of Rs160 billion," said a senior government official.
The official, requesting anonymity, said the slow PSDP utilization during earlier part of the year would force the authorities to make hasty releases in the last quarter thus compromising the quality of project implementation.
