PESHAWAR: The Centre for Governance and Public Accountability, a non-governmental organisation, on Tuesday said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had utilised just 43 per cent of the Annual Development Programme 2015-16 funds by May 26.

It called for improvement in the ADP spending.

A statement issued here by the CGPA said the provincial government utilised 88 per cent of the ADP funds in 2011-12, 76 per cent in 2012-13, 61 per cent in 2013-14 and 83 per cent in 2014-15.

It said Rs174 billion was allocated in the 2015-16 ADP but the government could release only Rs117 billion of it by May 2016.

The CGPA said a finance department report showed that only Rs73 billion of the ADP funds was used until May 2016.

It said on average, 18 per cent of the foreign project assistance was utilised during the last four financial years.

The CGPA said in terms of actual expenditure under the ADP 2015-16, the district ADP had utilised Rs11.09 billion of the Rs30.2 billion allocations (37 per cent), the road sector Rs10.7 billion out of Rs19 billion (56 per cent), the local government department Rs7.8 billion out of Rs18.3 billion (43 per cent), the elementary and secondary education sector Rs8.7 billion out of Rs15.9 billion (55 per cent), and the health sector only Rs4.2 billion out of Rs12.4 billion (34 per cent).

CGPA executive director Mohammad Anwar stressed on abolishing the practice of allocation of development funds to MPAs.

He said there was no justification for the district development advisory committee after the formation of elected district governments across the province.

CGPA programme manager Malik Masood demanded that the KP government ensure efficient and accountable mechanisms for improving the ADP spending.

He said the government should improve its capacity to ensure the timely ADP utilisation along with the implementation of other legislations, which were harbinger to the KP good governance legislative framework.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2016