RAWALPINDI, Feb 21: The district government on Monday released Rs19.7 million under the Annual Development Programme (ADP) for 36 development projects in different union councils.

An official told this reporter that some portion of the amount would be spent on ongoing schemes, while some would be used to initiate several new ones. The grant is specifically meant for construction of roads and streets.

The disbursement is more than the usual monthly instalment because of some leftover amount from last month. The monthly instalment is about Rs17.625 million. The total volume of district's annual ADP is Rs282.590 million. In actual practice, Rs211.946 million is spent on the ADP projects, while the remaining Rs70.646 million goes to the Citizen Community Boards' identified projects.

The scope of Annual Development Programme has remained limited over the years, creating difficulties in fulfilling the development needs of the district. This has been seriously impeding the financial autonomy of the district government, which has no other source of revenue. The district government has been pleading the provincial government to enhance the Annual Development Programme grant for the district.