ISLAMABAD: The federal budget 2015-16 will be presented in the National Assembly in the first week of June.

Presiding over a meeting of relevant departments, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar instructed that preparations be made much ahead of the deadline.

Finance Secretary Dr Waqar Masood gave a briefing to the minister on budget preparations and comparative analysis of revenue and expenditure position.

In another meeting, the finance minister accorded, in principle, approval to telecentre projects throughout Pakistan. The minister ordered release of Rs5 billion from Federal Consolidated Fund (FCF) for the project. In addition, Rs1bn would also be released for the R&D projects.

The idea behind setting up these centres is to provide access to people in far-flung areas of the country to e-communications and IT facilities. About 500 telecentres are proposed to be built at a cost of Rs11.5bn in three years.

The minister was also informed that 417 sites have been surveyed, and 217 were declared qualified sites.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play