31 July 2004	Saturday	13 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

ISLAMABAD, July 30: Sindh seeks additional fiscal support from the Centre to help retire its Rs40.1 billion debt and improve health, education, water and sanitation sectors through local government institutions.

Official sources told Dawn here on Friday that first Sindh wanted to retire its expensive Rs6.4 billion debt. The province desired to retire its huge accumulated debt to create fiscal space for more sustainable investment in the devolved social sectors.

According to sources, Sindh can safe Rs1.2 billion on account of interest repayments if it gets additional help from the federal government during 2004-05.

The Sindh government maintained that social indicators of the province represent a dismal picture, with over 50 per cent illiterate population; nearly half of the children of school-going age not attending school; a high infant morality rate of 10 per cent; half of the children below five years being malnourished and merely 15 per cent of the rural population having access to potable water and sanitation facilities, besides increasing gender disparity.

Sources said Sindh had told the federal authorities that the Gross Enrolment Rate (GER) for women at 38 per cent was much lower than the rate for boys (61 per cent), while maternal mortality rate for the province remained high due to poor access to health facilities, multiple births and malnutrition.

Sindh wanted funds to effectively implement the Sindh Devolved Social Services Programme" for which the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has also committed $220 million.

However, the sources said that while the Centre was considerate to provide additional funds and help lower the Rs40.1 billion debt, it wanted the Sindh government to remove leakages and corruption particularly in the revenue departments to have the much needed new resources for the province.