LAHORE: Punjab claims to have made a record utilisation of over Rs300bn, spending 66pc of the Rs458bn released of the total allocation under the Annual Development Programme (ADP) 2021-22.

The total budgeted allocation of the ADP was Rs560bn in eight months—July 2021 to February 28, 2022. It was later revised to Rs640bn during the ongoing FY 21-22.

“It is a historic moment for us that the executing agencies in Punjab have attained the required implementation pace for completing several development projects. This reflects around 66pc utilisation of the total released funds till Feb 28. But we crossed this 66pc figure yesterday,” Planning and Development Department/Board Chairman Abdullah Khan Sumbal told Dawn.

According to the department, the ADP included Rs84bn being spent on various projects under foreign assistance. Of this, Rs28bn have been utilised by February, 2022, taking it to 33pc utilisation.

Of around Rs90bn released for roads’ projects, Rs57bn were utilised, 68pc of the release funds. An amount of Rs11.1bn of the total Rs19.5bn released for public buildings was utilised. The other departments/sectors included Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department that utilised 68pc of the released funds of Rs89.3bn, Urban Development (49pc of the total Rs26.416 bn), Water Supply and Sanitation (63pc of the total Rs34.6bn), School Education (79pc of the total Rs31.7bn), Local Government & Community Development Department (65pc of total Rs30.7bn), Agriculture (58pc of the total Rs29.9bn) and Planning and Development (84pc of the total Rs26.1bn). The irrigation department utilised 50pc followed by 52pc, 12pc, 50pc, 71pc, 78pc, 71pc, 34pc and 87pc utilised by the primary & secondary healthcare, transport, higher education, industries, sports & youth affairs, energy, livestock and environment, respectively.

The governance & information technology, forestry, literacy, human rights, social welfare, tourism, emergency services (1122), mines & minerals, wildlife, fisheries, special education, Auqaf, archaeology, information & culture, women development, food and labour & HR development utilised 22pc, 43pc, 57pc, 48pc, 47pc, 43pc, 50pc, 64pc, 61pc, 16pc, 38pc, 56pc, 33pc, 39pc, 42pc, 55pc, 13pc and 40pc of their total released funds, respectively.

“We are optimistic to cross the figure of Rs550bn utilisation by the end of this fiscal year by June 30. And if we achieve this, it would be the highest figure so far after Rs411bn utilised under the 2017-18 ADP,” Mr Sumbal claimed.

He said the department’s six months projection framework for the ADP was very important as it helped departments/sectors to achieve their targets.

“In first six months of the ADP (July to Dec, 2021), our utilisation target was Rs293bn. And we almost achieved this by touching the Rs290bn figure,” he maintained.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2022