PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Wednesday passed Rs2.17 trillion budget for the upcoming fiscal, bulldozing the cut motions and approving grants for all departments.
Chief Minister Mohammad Sohail Afridi while speaking on the occasion said that 2026-27 would be the year of peace, prosperity and development for the province
“We cannot make development unless there is peace. This is why we have enhanced budget for police to Rs40 billion to provide equipment to them, develop infrastructure, build their capacity and remove all short comings,” the chief minister said while addressing the budget session of KP Assembly.
During the sitting, held with Speaker Babar Saleem Swati in the chair, he said that Peshawar was the provincial capital and gave overwhelming majority to PTI. He said that the second largest amount of funds was allocated for Peshawar.
CM says 2026-27 will be year of peace and development for the province
The chief minister said that with almost Rs100 billion extra, the throw forward would be reduced and there would be visible changes in health and education sectors.
“We are bringing Insaf Buzurg Card for people above 60 years of age so that they can travel free of cost in BRT,” he said. He added that there were huge allocations for several districts as funds were allocated without any discrimination.
“Your federal minister had promised completion of Khyber Institute of Child Health but he allocated only Rs300 million. We, through bridge financing, will complete the project,” Mr Afridi told PML-N’s leader of opposition Dr Ibadullah.
He said that the dam in Swat was ready but NOC was not issued by the federal government to Chinese nationals so that the remaining technical work was completed. He added that the KP government, from its own resources, would invest in merged districts.
“We did not celebrate passing the budget because we will celebrate Imran Khan’s release as the nation does not want anyone else but Mr Khan,” said the chief minister. He said that the entire country had been suffering due to the decisions taken behind closed doors.
He stated that they had knocked at every door but even a chief executive of a province was refused meeting with founder of PTI. He added that an aged woman, a doctor was imprisoned, who advocated for sending former prime minister Nawaz Sharif abroad for medical treatment.
“We are and will tolerate it but you [referring to the federal government] will not be able to tolerate it,” he said.
The chief minister told the opposition leader that their government in Islamabad had been holding more than Rs4,000 billion of the province and was refusing to give it share in National Finance Commission (NFC). He questioned if the federal government brought industrial or agricultural revolution since the country’s imports were almost double of exports. He added that trade deficit was around $36 billion dollars. He stated that the GDP growth, which was once 6 per cent during Imran Khan’s government, had dropped to 3 per cent.
Earlier, the KP Assembly passed the budget for the fiscal year 2026-27 after all the cut motions, proposed by lawmakers, were bulldozed and demands for grants of all departments were approved.
The leader of opposition in provincial assembly, Dr Ibadullah, complained about bulldozing cut motions and not allowing opposition lawmakers to speak regarding the issues being faced by people in their respective constituencies.
“I was not expecting from the chair to bulldoze cut motions of lawmakers on funds allocated for government departments. This should not have happened. Bulldozing cut motions is unfair,” he complained. The chair stated that the powers were exercised with the consent of lawmakers, both from treasury and opposition benches.
Mr Ibadullah stated that not even a single penny was allocated for opposition lawmakers. He asked the chief minister to carry opposition lawmakers along with him as well.
He said that there were potential areas from where provincial government could generate revenue. He said that government had no roadmap that’s why it failed to develop the province since 2013.
He stated that energy, mines and minerals, and tourism sectors could generate huge finances for the province. He added that pre and post budget debates should be considered and implemented.
Talking on the occasion, PPP’s Ahmad Karim Kundi said that all the parties should bring a charter of economy. He said that social economic indicators were not available.
The chief minister’s adviser on finance, Muzammil Aslam, said that rules of business should be framed so that the throw forward was capped. He said that rules should be framed for debt management and developmental projects.
Minister for Law Aftab Alam Afridi rejected claims of lawmakers about meagre allocations. He said that during the fiscal year 2025-26, some 323 schemes were deleted while Rs71 billion was allocated for 523 projects which too would be deleted from Annual Development Programme.
Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2026