PESHAWAR, Nov 5: Former NWFP chief minister Akram Khan Durrani, exercising his discretionary powers, ordered the release of Rs1.24 billion during the current financial year (2007-08) for development schemes identified by various MPAs affiliated to the alliance of religious parties.

The current Annual Development Programme (ADP), formulated by the MMA government, carried a scheme — Special Package for the Development Initiatives in the North Western Frontier Province — which made it possible for the former chief minister to finance development projects anywhere in the province, sources in the finance department told Dawn.

The chief minister’s directives, according to them, were required for the release of funds for an uplift scheme under this package. Mr Durrani issued 40 directives during the first quarter of the current financial year for releasing the entire funding earmarked under the scheme.

The government had set aside an amount of Rs1 billion for the scheme in the current financial year. However, according to official sources, the releases exceeded the actual allocation during the first quarter of the current financial year by Rs24.866 million.

Comparison of the transfer of funds under the chief minister’s directives shows that Bannu, the native district of Mr Durrani, got the major portion of the cake.

An amount of Rs123 million was released for different development schemes in the district on the recommendations of several MPAs and even some non-elected individuals affiliated to the Jamiat-i-Ulema Islam-F, the sources said.

The Peshawar district, having four provincial assembly constituencies, was the second largest recipient of the funds released under chief minister’s directives in the same period, the sources said, adding that an amount of Rs109.748 million had been released to its district coordination officer for various projects.

In terms of releases, Swat district followed Peshawar by getting Rs105.1 million for various development projects.

Funds released to other districts includes Rs95 million for Mardan, Rs24.250 million for Abbottabad, Rs30 million each for Battagram and Buner districts, Rs37.802 million for Charsadda, Rs33 million for Chitral, Rs66.800 million for Dir Lower, Rs47.800 million for Upper Dir, Rs64.600 million for Dera Ismail Khan, Rs33.100 million for Haripur, Rs15 million for Hangu, Rs20 million for Karak, Rs5.200 million for Kohat, Rs50 million for Kohistan, Rs12 million for Lakki Marwat, Rs15.600 million for Malakand, Rs20.200 million for Mansehra, Rs36.650 million for Nowshera, Rs39 million for Swabi and Rs10.200 million for Tank district.

Shangla district could not get a single penny out of such funding, the sources said.

Officials at the planning and development department said that most of the funds under chief minister’s directives had been put at the disposal of district coordination officers concerned for the uplift initiatives ranging from pavement of streets to construction of drains and installation of water pumps to replacing the old transformers.