ISLAMABAD, Dec 1: Sindh has sought additional funds from the centre on an emergency basis to retire over Rs40 billion debts and to undertake new development projects especially in health, education, water and sanitation sectors.

Official sources told Dawn here on Wednesday that initially the federal government had allowed Sindh to avail itself of Asian Development Bank's $220 million loan to retire its $110 million expensive debt.

The Sindh administration wrote a letter to the centre that the ADB loan had become effective from April 29, 2004, which was primarily meant for establishing programme support units (PSU) in all the districts of the province. According to reports, a considerable amount of funds under an ADB loan programme had already been given to Sindh prior to the formal approval of the federal government.

The letter, sources said, helped in convening a high-level meeting of the ministry of finance and the Planning Commission to approve the ADB loan programme for Sindh. Retirement of the $110 million debt will create a fiscal space for sustainable investment in the devolved social sectors of the province.

According to latest details made available to the Centre, Sindh was under the debt of approximately Rs40.1 billion, out of which it was supposed to retire Rs6.3 billion in three years- Rs3.85 billion in 2003-04, Rs2.1 billion in 2004-05 and Rs345 million in 2005-06- thus saving roughly Rs1.2 billion on account of interest re-payments.

Sources said Sindh wanted additional funds on the pretext that its social indicators were too dismal with over 50 per cent of the population illiterate, nearly half of the school-going children not attending school, a high infant mortality rate of 10 per cent, half of the children less than five year of age being malnourished and merely 15 per cent of the rural population having access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities.

The gross enrolment rate for women at 38 per cent was much lower than GER for boys (61 per cent), while maternal mortality rate for the province remained high due to lack of access to health facilities, multiple births and malnutrition.

In the absence of the finalization of new National Finance Commission award, Sindh was insisting to get additional funds and has also sought the intervention of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in the matter, sources said.

However, the Sindh government has been advised to make correction in the coverage of water supply and to prepare a master plan for water provision and sanitation in the province to rationalize its development programme on year to year basis from the current financial year.