PESHAWAR, May 16: The NWFP government has utilised Rs13.121 billion of the Rs27.848 billion Annual Development Programme (ADP) during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year.
Official sources told Dawn that 49.3 per cent of the allocated funds had been spent during the period, which was almost 10 percentage points higher than the spending during the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
They said spending under the ADP, which was dominated by infrastructure-related projects, had shown a slight improvement but the development targets for the year were unlikely to be met because of lack of capacity and procedural hurdles.
The ADP initially had an allocation of Rs14.957 billion for the development projects being executed from the province’s resources. The allocation has been increased to Rs16.174 billion, raising the size of the ADP from Rs26.63 billion to Rs27.848 billion.
According to the sources, the government released Rs14.214 billion for the projects to be undertaken from the province’s resources, of which Rs8.169 billion -- 54.6 per cent – was spent.
The foreign aid component of the ADP is of Rs7.679 billion, of which 2.93 billion has been released and Rs2.819 billion spent. The amount utilised is 36.7 per cent of the allocation.
For the Rs419.31 million population welfare projects, Rs275.14 million were released and Rs232.43 million spent.
The district-ADP component of the programme had an allocation of Rs963.39 million, of which Rs746.58 million was put at the disposal of the district and tehsil administrations during the first nine months of the fiscal year but they could spend only Rs152.49 million, 15.8 per cent of the allocation.
For special programmes, Rs2.611 billion was allocated, Rs2.397 billion released and Rs1.748 billion spent, showing a utilisation percentage of 67 per cent.
The percentage of utilisation of funds during July-March was: 71 per cent in the schools and literacy sector, 34.8 per cent in higher education, 53.1 per cent in health, 65 per cent in roads, 84 per cent in buildings, 73.1 per cent in drinking water supply, 49.2 per cent in industries, 34.9 per cent in water, 30.1 per cent in power and 46.4 per cent in agriculture, 59.1 per cent in forestry, 89.2 per cent in urban development, 67.4 per cent in regional development, 21.5 per cent in science and technology, 23.4 per cent in research and development, 41.7 per cent in social welfare, 62.1 per cent in environment and 39 per cent in the tourism sector.