PESHAWAR: Adviser to the Khyber Pakhutnkhwa chief minister on finance Muzzammil Aslam said on Saturday that the figures given by the federal government regarding release of funds to his province could not be disputed, but claimed that the payments had been made below the amount payable.

While responding to a federal government’s statement regarding federal releases to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he said that approximately Rs4 trillion was payable to his province by the Centre, which includes net hydel profit (NHP), straight transfers, and dues of the merged districts.

He said that NHP payments were delayed, while the windfall levy had still not been included in straight transfers.

Mr Aslam added that federal excise duty on petroleum products had not been included for KP and the excise duty imposed on gas had never been revised. He further said that excise duty on tobacco was still being collected by the federal government, despite agriculture having been devolved to the provinces.

Muzzammil says Centre owes province Rs4tr under different heads including NHP

The CM’s adviser stated that even after the merger of former Fata, the 7th National Finance Commission (NFC) award had not been updated, and the merged districts were still being given a special grant, which was less compared to other special regions such as Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Mr Aslam said that even from the allocated budget for the merged districts, full payments were not received except for the year 2024-25, and that even half of the promised additional three per cent share or Rs100 billion in development funds promised in 2018 had not been provided.

He said that under the AIP (Accelerated Implementation Programme), only Rs168 billion had been received so far against Rs700 billion. He added that in the current year alone, more than Rs50 billion less had been allocated for the current expenditures of the merged districts.

Mr Aslam stated that due to the non-implementation of the 7th NFC award, an estimated Rs1.37 billion less had been received since 2018-19. He also said that not a single rupee out of the promised Rs17 billion for internally displaced persons had been released to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Mr Aslam said that the provincial government had spent more than Rs11 billion on IDPs from its own budget, and expressed hope that these details would be helpful for the federal government. The adviser said he was grateful that the funds released to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been put on record. He added that it would be better if the Ministry of Finance also provided complete data for other provinces, so that they could compare what each one had received.

Mr Aslam further said that the government should disclose how many kilometers of roads were being constructed in each province through the National Highway Authority, and also provide details of electricity and gas subsidies being given to the federating units. He added that the federal government should also clarify how much funding had been allocated to each province under the Public Sector Development Programme since 2010.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2025