PESHAWAR, May 21: In the first nine months of the current fiscal year local governments in the North West Frontier Province have hardly utilised 16 per cent of the Rs963.3 million earmarked for development projects at the grass-roots level.
Data compiled at the end of the third quarter of the financial year 2006-07 show that an amount of Rs963.39 million has been made part of the NWFP government’s Annual Development Programme (ADP) of Rs26.630 billion, which has now been increased to Rs27.484 billion.
Funds meant for the uplift projects directly approved and used by the district governments are worked out through a multi-factoral formula formulated by the Provincial Finance Commission (PFC), which distributes resources between province and districts.In line with the PFC formula, Rs963.3 million was to be utilised under three heads, with 60 per cent of the amount going to district governments, 30 per cent to the Tehsil Municipal Administrations (TMAs) and the remaining 10 per cent to be disbursed as special development grants.
Of the Rs606.9 million meant for uplift at the district governments level, Rs455.2 million was released during the first nine months, whereas overall utilisation was only Rs55.5 million, which is hardly 9 per cent of the total allocation.
District governments have been finding it extremely difficult to efficiently utilise funds earmarked for their development projects every year because of lack of capacity and shortage of technical hands.
Financial statements for the period July-March testify to the district governments’ lack of capacity as none of them could formulate their ADPs at the beginning of the financial year.
Most of the districts got their work plans approved from their respective councils in November or December last year. The Battagram district still hasn’t approved one.
In terms of utilisation, Bannu district is at the top, which utilised 51 per cent of its funds during the first nine months of the fiscal year, followed by Buner, Nowshera, Dir (Lower), Charsadda, Kohat, Chitral, Karak, Lakki Marwat, Mansehra, Mardan and Swat districts.
Abbottabad, Dera Ismail Khan, Dir (Upper), Hangu, Kohistan, Malakand, Peshawar, Swabi and Tank districts are the ones that could not spend even a single penny during the nine months under review, despite having funds from the provincial government.
Situation at the TMA level is far more disappointing, with only 26 of the 61 TMAs approving their ADPs even after the passage of nine months. The ratio of funds’ utilisation has also been insignificant.
The TMAs’ share, as per the formula, stands at Rs260.1 million, of which Rs195.1 million was released. The reported expenditures under this head remained at Rs41.3 million, the utilisation ratio being 15.9 per cent.