LAHORE, June 17: Punjab finance minister Husnain Bahadur Dreshak has put Annual Development Plan (ADP) for 2004-05 at Rs 43.44 billion. It is 42 per cent higher than the current year's ADP of Rs30.50 billion.
In his budget speech in Punjab Assembly on Thursday he said 30 per cent of the total ADP allocations would go to the social sector and 37 per cent for infrastructure development programme.
The provincial government would meet over 59 per cent of the ADP (Rs25.70 billion) from its own resources while 20 per cent (Rs8.74 billion) would be funded by foreign agencies. District governments' share in the plan would be 20.73 per cent (Rs9 billion).
The ratio of allocation of funds between northern and southern Punjab is 57:43 while their population ratio is 62:38. The public sector development investment, Mr Dreshak hopes, would achieve accelerated economic growth, reduce poverty, balance regional, gender and minority development, improve public service delivery and develop new infrastructure through public-private partnership.
A sum of Rs737 million has been allocated for agriculture sector for strengthening laser land levelling services, improving 28,000 watercourses and water use efficiency, and underground water quality assessment.
A sum of Rs5,327 million would be utilized for rehabilitation of Thal canal, Paikhel and Mohar canals and construction of small dams in Potohar. An amount of Rs8,000 million has been allocated for resolving traffic problems in big cities, constructing Lahore ring road, building bridges on river Tawi and Bunnah nullah in Jhelum.
At least 303 km provincial roads would be improved while 1,100 km existing farm-to-market roads would be rehabilitated. A sum of Rs2,500 has been apportioned for various water supply and sanitation projects.
It also included JICA assisted Punjab community water supply and sanitation project in Faisalabad, and Asian Development Bank assisted Rawalpindi environmental improvement project.
For health sector development programme, an amount of Rs2,000 million has been earmarked which is 132 per cent higher than the current year's allocation. Education has been assigned the highest priority in the ADP as an amount of Rs8,230 million has been allocated which is 19 per cent of the total development outlay for the year 2004-05.
Universities would be established at Sargodha, Faisalabad, Gujrat and an engineering and technology college would be set up at Gujranwala. While local governments would also be offered help for improving higher education.
For education of special people a sum of Rs400 million, 1,776 per cent higher than the current year's projection, has been made to set up 19 centres for deaf and dumb at tehsil level.
The allocation for literacy and non-formal basic education has been increased from the current Rs36 million to Rs133 million. A new project of model districts for literacy campaign in Mandi Bahauddin, Khanewal and Dera Ghazi Khan would also be launched.
Under an innovative policy intervention the concept of private-public partnership, that includes BOT (built, operate and transfer) has been adopted for qualitative involvement of private sector in financing, constructing and operating of infrastructure facilities.
The private sector would be enabled to recover its capital investment plus reasonable return on the capital. However, raising of funds, securitization of credit, shouldering investment risk, pricing of the facility have to conform to the usual business practices that are associated with normal private sector investments for producing goods and services in the economy. Of the total 1,117 schemes in the ADP, 622 are expected to be completed.
