PESHAWAR: Adviser to the chief minister on finance Muzamil Aslam has said that the provincial government is likely to increase the fare of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service to arrest its deficit and divert the subsidy paid in this regard to other useful heads.

Talking to reporters during his visit to Peshawar Press Club on Tuesday night, he said since the launch of the service in 2019, no increase had been made in its fare despite manifold hike in electricity tariff and prices of petroleum products.

He said currently the provincial government had to pay an amount of over Rs3 billion per annum in head of subsidy in the fare of BRT service. He said a budgetary proposal regarding increase in the fare would be submitted to the government.

Regarding financial condition of the autonomous organisations, he said various such institutes, particularly universities, were spending more than their sanctioned expenditures.

To a question regarding debt of the KP government, Mr Aslam said it had only a debt of Rs630 billion as compared to Rs1,700 billion of Punjab.

The debt of KP government is merely $2.5 billion, which could be paid easily. He said good aspect of the KP debt was that it was external and not domestic.

He expressed concern over the growing government expenditure, saying a huge part of its receipts was spent on payment of salaries to government employees, and steps were underway to bring reforms in it.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2024