PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government will unveil the largest ever budget of the province today (Friday) with an outlay of over Rs1 trillion.

The budget, the second last of the current government, will be presented before the provincial assembly at 3pm on Friday.

A notification issued by the assembly’s secretariat said in pursuance of Rule 33(1) of the KP Government Rules of Business, 1985, it was announced that the annual budget for the financial year 2021-22 would be presented in the assembly on Friday (June 18).

Official sources familiar with the preparation of the budget told Dawn that the budget had been finalised and would have an outlay of over Rs1 trillion, the largest ever in the province’s history.

Over Rs300bn proposed for development, Rs700bn for current expenditure

They said the budget would also have a development outlay of over Rs300 billion, while more than Rs700 billion would be spent on current expenditure in the next fiscal.

An official said the annual development programme (ADP) would have an Rs150 billion provincial component and over Rs89 billion for donor funded projects.

The ADP of the merged tribal districts has been pitched at over Rs30 billion.

The official said the government had also focused its attention on the translation of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision of giving priority to high impact project into reality through its development outlay and they included agriculture sector, knowledge economy, olive promotion, canal patrol projects and reduction of regional disparity.

He said under the initiative, more than 200 high impact development schemes would be completed by 2023 across the province.

“More than 700 ongoing projects have been prioritised for completion over next two years.

The ongoing project portfolio will also prioritise high impact projects, while the high priority projects will be added to the new projects portfolio,” he said.

Talking to reporters here two days ago, finance minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra highlighted key features of the next budget and said it would have the most ambitious development agenda in the history of the province with record allocation for the ADP and total development budget.

He said the government was also focusing on prioritising social sector investment with the largest ever budgets for the education and health sectors.

Mr Jhagra said the government was also committed to increasing the minimum wage to Rs21,000 and making record allocations to ensure provision of subsidised flour and Sehat Card Plus scheme.

He said all government employees under BPS-19 would get pay raise of 25 per cent or more.

Mr Jhagra also said the provincial government was going to set an ambitious revenue target of Rs75 billion own source revenue, which was 50 per cent more than the target for the last year.

He said the budget would also focus on unleashing the province’s comparative advantage through flagship investment in energy, tourism and information technology departments.

Meanwhile, the Peshawar police have made a plan to ensure security on the budget day.

A statement issued here said around 400 police personnel would be deployed around the assembly building and surrounding areas for the budget session.

The bomb disposal unit and ‘canine unit’ will also be deployed and strict checking will be ensured on roads leading to the assembly building.

APP adds: Speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani on Thursday issued an order banning the entry of all kinds of visitors and guests to the assembly building during the budget session beginning today.

The order was issued due to the prevailing security situation and to control the third wave of Covid-19 in the province.

According to the order, the security staff of the assembly’s secretariat was told to remain vigilant and not to allow irrelevant persons accompanied by the MPAs except their drivers to the assembly premises during the entire budget session.

The cooperation of the assembly’s members was also sought for the purpose.

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2021