RAWALPINDI, June 26: Rawal Town Municipal Administration (RTMA) will announce its Rs1.19 billion surplus budget for fiscal 2012-13 on Wednesday.

For the first time in Rawal Towns history, the annual budget will touch the billion mark besides allocating a handsome amount of Rs778 million for development schemes which would be utilised by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) legislators before the general elections.It will be the last budget of the town as Punjab government is planning to revive the metropolitan municipal corporation by merging Rawal and Potohar towns. A bill in this regard was tabled in the Punjab Assembly earlier this month which is being vetted by its parliamentary committee.

Like previous four years, the RTMA will again ask the PML-N legislators Malik Shakeel Awan of NA-55, Hanif Abbasi of NA-56, Ziaullah Shah of PP-11, Shahryar Riaz of PP-12, Malik Ghulam Raza of PP-13 and Raja Abdul Hanif Advocate of PP-14 to submit development schemes for coming fiscal year.

Interestingly, PML-N local leader Sardar Naseem, who is close to Sharifs, was also invited by the RTMA to send his schemes.

According to the budget proposals, the total outlay of the budget is Rs1.19 billion and total expenditure is expected to stand at Rs1.13 billion, leaving Rs0.06 billion surplus.

Rs357 million have been allocated for non-development expenditures including Rs130 million for electricity bills of street lights and offices, Rs150 million for contingency/services and commodities and Rs28 million for miscellaneous.

On the direction of the Punjab government, the RTMA has allocated two per cent of its budget for the sports and youth development.

As part of revenue generation programme, the RTMA has planned to shift to defunct Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation offices located at Jinnah Road commonly known as City Saddar Road near Fowwara Chowk and give the present building on rent to multinational companies or banks.

Rs25 million had been allocated for the refurbishment of old building.

The RTMA has allocated Rs60 million for the salaries of 190 employees of Parks and Horticulture Agency (PHA) on the directives of the Punjab government.