LAHORE: Punjab has crossed the figure of Rs400 billion as on April 22 — so far the highest fund utilisation under the Annual Development Programme (ADP) -- for the ongoing fiscal year 2021-22, expecting a total utilisation of Rs550bn by June 30, the last day of the ongoing financial year.
“In the first four months of the ongoing financial year’s second half (January to April), we, till April 22, have utilised Rs259bn, and the figure is likely to reach Rs280bn on April 30. In January, we utilised Rs59bn, followed by Rs65bn and Rs67bn in February and March, respectively. In the ongoing month (as on April 22), we utilised Rs47bn and the amount may reach to Rs68bn till April 30,” Planning and Development Department Chairman Abdullah Khan Sumbal explained while talking to Dawn on Monday.
“For May and June, our target is Rs83bn and 60bn, respectively. Hopefully, we will be able to utilise total Rs550bn under the ADP till June 30 — the highest ever utilisation after 2017-18 fiscal year when Rs411bn were utilised,” he added.
It may be mentioned that till March 31, the total utilisation reached Rs362bn of the Rs500bn released out of the revised Rs640bn allocation for the ADP 2021-22. The Rs362bn included Rs9bn utilised for the development projects approved under the public-private partnership.
The Punjab government had earlier utilised over Rs300bn, spending 66pc of the Rs458bn released out of the total allocation till Feb 28 under the ADP. The total budgeted allocation of the ADP was Rs560bn. However, it was later revised to Rs640bn. The ADP included
Rs84bn being spent on various projects under foreign assistance. Of this, Rs28bn were utilised by February 2022, taking it to 33pc utilisation as on Feb 28.
By end of February, of Rs90bn released for road projects, Rs57bn were utilised. An amount of Rs11.1bn of the total Rs19.5bn released for public buildings was utilised.
Other departments/sectors that utilised the ADP funds include Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department 68pc of the Rs89.3bn released, Urban Development 49pc of the total Rs26.416bn, Water Supply and Sanitation 63pc of the total Rs34.6bn, School Education Department 79pc of the total Rs31.7bn, Local Government and Community Development Department 65pc of total Rs30.7bn, Agriculture Department 58pc of the total Rs29.9bn and Planning and Development Department 84pc of the total Rs26.1bn.
Similarly, Irrigation Department utilised 50pc of the funds, followed by the Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department used 52pc of the ADP funds, Transport Department 12pc, Higher Education Department 50pc, Industries Department 71pc, Sports & Youth Affairs 78pc, Energy 71pc, Livestock and Dairy Development 34pc and Environment Department utilised 87pc of the funds.
“The six-month projection framework we prepared has played a key role in enabling us to utilise such massive funds so far. Hopefully, it will further help us utilise Rs550 billion,” Mr Sumbal maintained.
Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2022
