PESHAWAR, June 8: The NWFP government is expected to announce an Annual Development Programme (ADP) of over Rs17 billion in the next budget indicating an increase of 20 per cent of the outgoing fiscal year.

The total outlay of the ADP announced in the 2003-2004 annual was Rs14.69 billion. Official sources said the government made an increase of 10 per cent every year in the allocation of the ADP keeping in view the increasing inflation and poverty but on the special directives of the chief minister total allocations for the ADP would be increased by 20 per cent in the next fiscal.

As usual, education and health will be the top most priority areas of the government with the two sectors getting the major share of the ADP. Both the education and health departments will have to emphasize over the reform process initiated in these sectors.

"Those projects on which huge amount had already been spent or those which are nearer to completion will be given top priority in the ADP," the sources said. The ongoing projects, the source said, would get around 65 per cent of the total funds to be reserved for the ADP.

The ongoing foreign-funded projects and technical grant will be the second priority with 15 per cent of the total funds going to that area, while new projects will get 20 per cent of the total ADP.

The sources said in the budget guidelines given by the planning, environment and development (PE&D) department, all the provincial departments had been directed to ensure the completion of the ongoing projects so that the investment which had taken place during the out-going financial year could be saved.

Similarly, they have also been directed to evaluate all the foreign-funded projects and technical assistance and if they believe that a project or technical assistance has no further need, they should withdraw them from their respective ADPs in order to increase the fiscal space for the overall ADP.

The departments have also been directed to include the short-term development projects in their respective ADPs so that they could be completed within the stipulated time as well as the overall funds utilization ratio improved through this way.

The provincial government in order to meet the conditionality of the World Bank for the release of the second suspended tranche of Structural Adjustment Credit (SAC) had re-shaped the ADP of the outgoing fiscal year by dropping about 800 schemes in various sectors.

The government, the sources said, would have to carry these projects in the next ADP and these schemes would be included in the new schemes' component of the ADP.

An official of the finance department said both the finance and PE&D departments, had recently designed the next draft budget and the ADP, however, if the provinces could make any breakthrough in finalization of the next National Finance Commission (NFC) award prior to the announcement of the federal budget, the departments would reshape their plans keeping in view the available resources.

Budget session: Budget session of the NWFP Assembly has been summoned for June 18, however Speaker Bakht Jehan Khan has not yet issued formal notification. Sources said that it was not clear whether the government would be in a position to announce the budget or not as it had not received the amount under the NFC Award.

The MMA government had previously announced that it would not table the budget in the assembly until the Centre released the province's share in the NFC Award. -PPI