PESHAWAR, Jan 27: The mid-year review of development spending by executing agencies of the NWFP government will commence on Feb 1 amid reports about slow pace of funds utilisation during the first quarter of fiscal year 2006-07.

Officials told Dawn that NWFP Minister for Planning and Development Inayatullah Khan would chair the review meeting. A presentation on the performance would be given to Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani by the middle of next month.

Progress on uplift projects of the Rs26.630 billion Annual Development Programme (ADP) will be evaluated in the eight-day review process.

"The provincial government is making all-out efforts to get maximum uplift schemes completed before closing of the current financial year," officials said.

Although overall progress on development projects showed a slight improvement, the province was still unable to achieve development targets within the specified period, they said.

The executing agencies had utilised 14.6 per cent of funds during the first three months of the current fiscal year, which was 4.9 per cent higher than the corresponding period last fiscal year.

The provincial finance department, the officials said, had released Rs12.920 billion to the line agencies. Out of this, Rs3.879 million or 30 per cent was spent on uplift projects.

The provincial ADP carries a major component of Rs14.957 billion allocated for 1,006 projects to be completed from the provincial kitty. An amount of Rs10.060 billion was released during the first quarter, but the agencies hardly utilised Rs2.762 billion.

Slow pace of spending had also been witnessed on projects being financed by international donors. An amount of Rs7.679 billion had been allocated for foreign-aided projects, out of which Rs1.176 billion was released, while Rs611.28 million was utilised.

Likewise, an amount of Rs419.31 million had been earmarked by the federal government for uplift schemes of population welfare under the provincial ADP. Out of this, Rs104.83 million was released, while Rs57.58 million was utilised.