PESHAWAR, Oct 8: The NWFP government locally-funded development projects liability has risen to over Rs47bn, according to official sources.

The liability rose from Rs24bn by the end of the last financial year to over Rs47.7bn at the start of the current financial year — a situation caused by the government’s decision to include 980 new development schemes during the current financial year.

“With the commencement of the 2003-04 financial year, the liability of the provincial government jumped to well over Rs47bn as a result of the government’s decision to include so many new schemes in the ADP to satisfy electorates of the component parties of the ruling alliance,” said a well placed official source.

Official sources termed the situation as ‘serious’. “This is beyond the NWFP government’s capacity,” said a finance manager of the province.

Official sources apprehended that the move - if not abandoned - would carry negative effects for the province which was already battling with the issue of ‘its growing annual fiscal deficit’.

The present level of the liability, said an official, appeared to be a too big a task to handle amicably by province, which draws more than 90 per cent of its annual revenue receipts from the federal government and Wapda.

On the average each of the total number of locally funded schemes would take two-to-seven years to get completed given these works get smooth flow of funds.

“By incorporating so many new schemes the government has undermined the scope of future development planning,” remarked a development planner of the province.

The Rs14.67bn ADP for the 2003-04 financial year involves a total of 1325 locally funded projects — schemes other than those carried out through foreign assistance — including 345 on-going schemes.

Of the total new schemes, well over 600 pertain to the education and roads sectors involving a total amount of Rs11bn.

The sector wise detail show that roads liability stands at Rs6.7bn, followed by the health sector which requires Rs5.1bn to complete its on-going and new development schemes making part of the current fiscal year’s ADP.

Education sector’s liability stands around Rs4.25bn, drinking water and sanitation Rs616m, social welfare Rs78m, Rs24m minority, building and housing Rs1.2bn, urban development Rs216m, water Rs4.4bn, agriculture Rs960m, forestry Rs740m, environment Rs78m, tourism Rs525m, power Rs8.1bn, industries Rs918m, regional development Rs5.8bn, research and development Rs178m, science and technology Rs328m.

Apart from the above mentioned schemes, the province would need over Rs1.1bn to complete hundreds of those schemes which would be identified by the members of the provincial assembly under the Tameer-i-Sarhad Programme.

Though the size of the liability would get lowered from the current level of Rs47.7bn under the currently undertaken exercise to reduce the size of the ADP by dropping insignificant development schemes, reduction was not expected to cause major difference. The World Bank, said the sources, had also observed that in view of the existing resources, it was beyond the provincial government’s fiscal capacity to provide the funds it had projected for the current financial year’s ADP.1