PESHAWAR, June 8: The NWFP government’s inability to spend freely due to continued financial squeeze has, apparently, left the provincial infrastructure in a shambles in various areas, according to official sources.
The province has registered continuous decline in its expenditure on repair and maintenance (R&M) of roads, highways and bridges. Buildings and structures owned by various departments of the provincial government also suffered due to non-allocation of ample funds for repair and maintenance.
The decrease in repair and maintenance expenses touched new heights during the last two financial years leaving the infrastructure in deteriorated condition in several parts of the province.
“Continued resource crunch made the government curtail its expenditure even on some very important sectors,” said the sources.
Non-allocation of sufficient funds, according to sources, badly affected infrastructure, especially the road network built with billions of rupees raised by successive provincial governments through expensive loans.
The NWFP receives over 90 per cent of its annual current revenue from external resources, including direct transfers from the federal government and net hydel profit from the Water and Power Development Authority.
Major shortfall under the direct federal transfers during the last five years’ operations of the National Finance Commission (NFC) award due to the Central Board of Revenue’s inability to meet the revenue generation targets left sharp imprints on the provincial resources.
This situation, said the sources, left the provincial governments, especially the sitting one, with two simple options: to curtail its current expenditure or rely on taking overdraft from the State Bank - as the Sindh government did.
The government preferred to bring down its expenditure, which badly affected the infrastructure developed with billions of rupees.
According to the provincial government’s documents, only Rs180 million had been projected, under the current financial year’s budget, as allocation for the road repairs falling under the jurisdiction of the works and services department. The amount specified for the current year appears to be less than the money spent in the financial year.
Expenditure incurred under the same head during the last four financial years reflects gradual decrease after every year. In 2000-01, the government had spent Rs286.445m under the head against Rs391.2m spent in 1999-2000 and Rs451m in 1998-99.
The last four financial years’ expenditure incurred on account of R&M of buildings and structures also reflect the same picture.
Due to financial constraints, the provincial government kept on spending less on the maintenance of official buildings and structures.
Against Rs283m spending made on maintaining buildings and structures in 1999-2000, the government spent only Rs129.4m in 2000-01 and specified Rs142m during 2001-02 for the purpose.
“Decrease in expenditure under this head is not something which reflects that the government has improved management, rather, it reflects only one thing - government does not have ample fiscal space to meet even its most important expenditure,” said the sources.
The province has also reduced its spending on the R&M of irrigation network and buildings belonging to police, health, public health and forest departments.
The government applied major cut on its spending under the heads, particularly during the last two financial years.