May 25, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 08, 1428

PESHAWAR, May 24: The NWFP government has decided to increase the total outlay for the Annual Development Programme (ADP) by 33 per cent in the next budget in order to ensure completion of the ongoing development projects.

A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting presided over by NWFP Chief Minister Mohammad Akram Khan Durrani here on Thursday, sources told Dawn. The meeting was convened to discuss the performance of the implementing agencies towards achieving the development targets.

During the current financial year (2006-07), the NWFP government was initially undertaking development projects worth Rs26.630 billion, which figure was increased to Rs27.848 billion after the government added Rs2 billion to the provincial ADP component.

“This amount has been put at the executing agencies’ disposal to complete a maximum number of the ongoing development projects before the end of the fiscal year,” the chief minister told the meeting.

The meeting reviewed the performance of the executing agencies with a particular reference to schemes which were due for completion by the end of the current fiscal year.

The implementing agencies, by end of third quarter, have collectively utilised Rs13.121 billion against Rs27.848 billion worth ADP.

The provincial-ADP component has a total of 971 uplift schemes, out of which 411 are for completion by the June 30. However, data shows that the agencies had completed 14 projects leaving 397 at balance.

The government is of the view that the performance of implementing agencies, in terms of funds utilisation in current fiscal year, has shown slight improvement comparing to the past.

However, the agencies are unlikely to meet the targets, mainly because of the lack of technical know-how and capacity.