QUETTA: Balochistan Finance Min­ister Mir Zahoor Ahmed Buledi has said that under the Rs189 billion provincial Public Sector Development Pro­gramme (PSDP) all areas of the province would get development sch­emes and no constituency would be ignored.

Speaking at his post-budget press conference here on Saturday, he said the funds for the current PSDP could not be fully utilised because the opposition parties approached the Balochistan High Court and the Supreme Court with objections to the PSDP and the courts ordered the government to stop implementation of parts of the programme.

He said with financial management and other steps, the Balochistan government had reduced its non-development expenditures during the current financial year and it would present Balochistan history’s lowest supplementary budget of only Rs6bn on Monday.

He said the current year’s budget deficit had been reduced by 50 per cent through increasing provincial receipts and no overdraft was taken from State Bank or any other financial institution. He said the target of provincial receipt could not be achieved but Rs28bn was generated at the provincial level which helped the government bridge the deficit gap.

Mr Buledi said to increase provincial receipts, various steps were being taken, including financial reforms and making the Balochistan Revenue Authority more effective. The government would also receive revenue from mines and minerals department and other revenue generating departments, the finance minister said.

Balochistan to unveil its history’s lowest supplementary budget tomorrow

Replying to a question, he said that during the current financial year Balochistan received 100 per cent of the amount allocated by the federal government for the province in the federal budget for 2020-21.

He said that 3,786 development schemes were included in the PSDP 2021-22, 2,285 new and 1,501 ongoing schemes.

He said during next financial year 1,647 development schemes would be completed as funds had already been released for these schemes, adding that these included those schemes which had been launched many years ago.

“We have allocated Rs112bn for ongoing development schemes and 20 per cent of development budget for new schemes,” Mr, Buledi said.

He said the government had allocated Rs2bn for launching an endowment fund for differently-abled people with the name of “Kumak”. It would be the country’s first programme for helping the special people in their medical treatment and welfare.

He said in view of unemployment, the provincial government had allocated Rs2bn for helping the youths who had completed their education but had no jobs. They would get financial help for starting their business. He said Rs2bn had been allocated for the endowment fund for providing health care facilities to the people suffering from dangerous diseases, including cancer and kidney and heart diseases. The fund was established with Rs4bn and under this programme over 3,000 people had been provided treatment in the best hospitals of the country, he added.

The finance minister said Rs3bn had been allocated for launching a low cost housing scheme. He said Rs1bn had been allocated for the welfare of women and minorities and Rs1bn for the welfare of fishermen.

Replying to a question, he said Rs6bn had been allocated for construction of dams to resolve water shortage issue. He said Mangi and Burj Aziz dams would be completed soon to provide water to Quetta and other areas.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2021