LAHORE, May 8: Spending 84 per cent of development funds by March 31, the provincial government expects to substantially increase its annual development budget for the next fiscal year. Official sources said the increase would be significant as the government would pump in more funds in the social sector to provide jobs and alleviate poverty in the province.

They said by March 31 the government had spent 84 per cent of the funds released for development projects. It had spent 60 per cent of the funds during the corresponding period last year. “We have spent Rs21 billion,” they said.

They hoped that the province would be able to utilize about 95 per cent of its resources allocated for development purposes by the end of the current fiscal year.

“We may lag behind in utilizing the foreign aid component because of late disbursements,” they said.

The government had allocated Rs 43.44 billion ADB for the current fiscal year which was 42 per cent higher than the previous financial year.

The sources said there was no lack of funds for development purposes but the lack of capacity to carry out the projects was a problem area.

The government had been engaging private sector in the development projects. But there had not been much support from it with regard to machinery, men and material.

“We need billions of bricks, tonnes of cement and iron bars for building roads and bridges. And the private sector does not have the capacity to provide them at the required speed,” they said.

Similarly, the sources said the government was also finding it hard to obtain skilled labour.

“A lot many masons and construction labourers are working in other countries and in the local private housing sector. And finding them for the government projects is a hard task,” they said.

The sources said the local governments too had not been able to properly utilize their funds because of the lack of capacity.