KARACHI, June 20: Out of the total Annual Development Programme of Rs7 billion proposed for the next fiscal year, the Sindh government has retained Rs3.126bn under its control.

Transport and Communication (T&C) has secured the highest allocation of Rs610 million out of the total allocation of Rs3.126bn development funds retained under the provincial government’s control.

Higher allocation to the T&C sectors is attributable to the initiation of work on road development programme costing Rs14bn to be financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for building more then 1,500 km long roads.

The Sindh Finance Minister, Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, announced the ambitious road development programme in his budget speech on Thursday.

Aggravation in poverty in the villages, where the percentage of people living below the poverty line is said to have gone beyond 50 per cent, has attracted the second highest allocation of Rs528m in the ADP for the rural development sector. A large number of small development schemes aiming at improvement of the quality of life in the villages are being taken up. These schemes are expected to generate employment and help create demand.

Persisting drought has drawn the attention of the planners to build water reservoirs and take up water supply schemes. A total of Rs425m has been earmarked for the water and power sector because of the drought.

The education sector gets Rs384m. A total of Rs303m has been allocated for the health sector.

Rs226m has been earmarked for the agriculture sector followed by Rs129m for physical planning and housing. Science and technology sectors have been allocated Rs110m for the new fiscal.

The budgetary allocation for emergency works are estimated at Rs93m.

The allocation for mines and mineral sectors is Rs154m followed by Rs67m for forest, wildlife and CDA and Rs45m for industries.

Statistical and economic research sectors have been allocated Rs31.4m followed by Rs20m and Rs1.325m for environment and women’s development, respectively.