PESHAWAR, May 2: Development expenditure of the NWFP improved during the third quarter of the current financial year, official sources told Dawn.

Development expenditure recorded at the end of the first three quarters of the fiscal shows a marked improvement as compared to the figures achieved at the end of the first six months of the current fiscal year.

The provincial government is estimated to spend Rs14.6 billion on development work in line with its ADP for the current financial year. "The project executing agencies managed to improve their expenditure in the third quarter of the outgoing fiscal year as has been the case in previous financial years," said an official source.

Development expenditure stood at around 44 per cent of the total ADP size which also includes an investment of about Rs3.8 billion which would be diverted from the second instalment of the World Bank loan.

Talking to Dawn, official sources expressed fear that the province would not be able to spend 100 per cent of the funds it had allocated for development under its current financial year's ADP.

"Though the funds' utilization position recorded at the close of the first three quarters reflected improvement as compared to the total expenditure recorded in the six-month period, it appears difficult for the province to be able to ensure 100 per cent utilization of funds stipulated for the ADP," said a development planner of the province.

The government, according to official documents, had spent about 17 per cent of the total size of the ADP by the end of the first half of financial year 2003-04, leaving it in a difficult position in view of its commitments with certain international donor agencies.

"The ADP expenditure recorded this time appears to be good in comparison with the position recorded in the corresponding period of the last financial year," said an official.

Improvement in expenditure could be achieved because of increased spending in the education and health sectors - the two sub-sectors being focused by the provincial government in fulfilment of its agreement with the World Bank.

Spending in the health sector, according to sources, recorded a substantial increase mainly because of utilization of funds under the multi-million rupee Mardan Medical Complex project which has been pending for over ten years because of red-tapism and litigation involved in the acquisition of land.

"The scheme reflects a classical case of ineptness on the part of the government agencies after the provincial exchequer experienced a financial loss of over Rs150 million because of delayed execution," said a development planner.

The sources said that the scheme had been launched by the government of the late chief minister Mir Afzal Khan in early 1990s. However, it still remained to be executed. Over 100 acres had been acquired for the project but it could not be carried out after land owners went into litigation against the government.

"The total price of the land at that time had been evaluated at about Rs50 million, whereas, now the government has paid about Rs226 million for the same area," said the planner.