KARACHI, June 11: Sindh Senior Minister for Finance Syed Sardar Ahmed on Saturday gave a categorical assurance that the Sindh government would meet the additional expenditure of Rs11 billion on account of increase in salaries and pension of its employees through its own resources. Highlighting the salient features of Sindh budget 2005-06 while addressing the post-budget press conference, Sardar Ahmed pointed out that the Sindh government previously too had been absorbing the additional financial burden on account of raise in salaries.

He explained that the government generated additional resources from various avenues like savings in revenue expenditure; receipt of arrears from the federal government which stood at Rs5.4 billion this year; and the grants in the pipeline from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

He said that there was provision for 22,000 vacancies in the budget and these were covered by budgetary allocation.

About debt payment by the Sindh government, Sardar Ahmed pointed out that provincial administration had continuously been writing to the federal government to obtain permission for loan from private sector to payoff costly debts and thus save the money to be spent in the development sector. However, there had been no progress so far in this regard.

To another question, he said, the last tranche of the World Bank loan was expected to be received in July this year.

He admitted that the Sindh government had not yet received the cost of the land given for defence purposes. However, he expressed hope that the amount would be paid to Sindh government by July or August this year.

When his attention was drawn to the fact that higher allocation had been made for law and order, the finance minister pointed out that the situation in Sindh was peculiar with all kinds of people from all parts of the country living here and therefore maintenance of law and order needed special funds. He said that almost 98 per cent of high profile cases which occurred here had been solved.

Sardar Ahmed said that Sindh was the first province where Rs3 billion social security fund had been set up, to which Rs2 billion would be added every year. He pointed out that social security system was in vogue everywhere in the world except Pakistan where it had been introduced for the first time by the Sindh government.

Additional Chief Secretary Planning and Development Ghulam Sarwar Khehro and other senior officials of the finance and planning departments were also present during the press conference. —APP