KARACHI: The Sindh government has decided to increase the allocation for Annual Development Programme (ADP) by 40 percent and proposed Rs 459 billion for development spending for the next fiscal year (FY23) as the next fiscal year is election year.
According to budget documents, with an increase of 40 percent or Rs 130.625 billion, the size of development budget for Sindh will be Rs 459.658 billion for the next financial year as compared to Rs 329.033 billion for this fiscal year (FY22). During this fiscal year, out of total estimated ADP budget, the government of Sindh spent some Rs 269.633 billion for the annual development programme.
The next fiscal year proposed ADP budget includes Rs. 332.165 billion for Provincial ADP and Rs 30 billion for Districts ADP, Foreign Project Assistance (FPA) of Rs 91.468 billion from the development partners and Rs 6.025 billion are expected from Federal PSDP grant for schemes being executed by government of Sindh.
Syed Murad Ali Shah Chief Minister Sindh in his budget speech said that Sindh faced a tough time during the last three and a half years as the previous federal government took every step to ensure that people of Sindh suffered. “We were on target when it was distribution of development portfolio of the federal government. We repeatedly approached them to increase it but it fell on deaf ears,” he added.
He further said that shift in federal priorities during last four years caused the people of the second largest province face deprivation due to lack of infrastructure development and non-provision basic health facilities in rural areas.
Next year’s ADP of Sindh will include schemes to provide basic facilities to the marginalized segments of society. More resources are being allocated for water & sanitation, road network, transport, health and education sectors to provide maximum relief to the common people in the next year’s ADP, he mentioned.
For the next financial year, an ADP scheme with a cost of Rs. 1.619 billion has been approved for establishment of 19 Youth Development Centers (YDCs) each with a cost of Rs. 85.230 million. The youth development centers will be a state-of-the-art facility for the recreational and co-curricular activities of the youth are going to be established in 19 districts of Sindh which include Sukkur, Umerkot ,Tharparkar, Ghotki, Dadu, Karachi West, Jamshoro, Malir, Sanghar, Badin, Tando Muhammad Khan, Keamari, Tando Allah Yar, Naushehro Feroze, Sujawal, Korangi, Thatta, Matiari.
The Universities & Boards Department has proposed to solarize the public sector universities to save energy as well as expenditure of the universities, in the first phase, it has been proposed in the ADP for Sindh University Jamshoro and QUEST Nawabshah for FY 2022-23. Some 24 ADP schemes are at the stage of completion including 15 new police station buildings.
One Foreign Aided Project “Sindh Provincial Road Improvement Project (SPRIP)” has been completely executed by the Works & Services Department with the assistance of Asian Bank Development Bank (ADB) having cost of Rs. 22.750 billion (ADP loan) plus Rs. 2.079 billion (GoS share). The Civil work for all these roads is near completion. Preparation of Sindh road Network Master Plan for next 20 years and Institutional Strengthen Training is also being done under SPRIP programme.
Moreover, Feasibility Study and Detailed Design of Hyderabad Southern Bypass (54.30 Kms) has also been completed under the same program. The execution of the project will begin by the end of 2022.
According to the ADP spending details, there are 2,506 ongoing schemes with allocation of Rs. 253.146 billion being 75 percent of total ADP. While, there are 1,652 new schemes have been planned with allocation of Rs 79.02 billion being 25 percent of total ADP allocation.
On-Going schemes where more than 70 percent expenditure is made have been fully funded for completion by June, 2023. More than 1,510 schemes have been fully funded and are expected to be completed in next financial year 2022-23.
The proposed allocation for education sector schemes is Rs. 34.22 billion, which is 10.2 percent of the total size. Allocation for Health sector schemes is Rs. 23.33 billion or some 6.5 percent of the total size.
Allocation for water and sanitation sector (PHE & LG) is Rs. 59.36 billion, which is 18 of the total size. Some 3 percent or Rs 10.2 billion have been allocated for agriculture & livestock sector, Rs 32.5 billion or 12 percent for irrigation including lining and Rs 100.64 billion or 30 percent of the total size for transport & communication (road under W&S and LG) sector have been allocated for the next fiscal year.
In addition, allocation for Karachi-based schemes is Rs 118 billion, Rs 72 billion under the ADP, Rs 5 billion under District ADP and Rs 41 billion through Foreign Project Assistance.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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