Three different political parties rule in three different provinces, and all of them have now presented their budgets. To analyse their development budgets, it must be kept in mind that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh not only have different geographies and unique local economies, but also receive a proportionate amount of funds from the federal divisible pool.
Therefore, a percentage-wise analysis is more equitable here than comparing absolute figures, because otherwise Punjab would out budget the rest.
Social sector spending falls under provincial governments domain following the 18th Constitutional Amendment. Therefore, the federal government, in its FY14 development allocations, has identified large infrastructure projects in energy and transport sectors, besides funding some of the ongoing vertical health programmes.
The provincial budgets show noticeable differences between the three provincial governments in their development orientation. To understand this better, lets assume each of the three provinces is given hundred rupees each in development funds to be spent over the course of next fiscal.
Based on their respective Annual Development Plans for 2013-14, it turns out that the KP government would spend Rs25 on education and Rs9 on health and population welfare. It will also spend heavily on infrastructure, with Rs19 on developing urban and regional infrastructure and Rs13 on roads. Rs6 are to be spent on water supply and sanitation, while energy & power projects would get Rs2.
By the same analogy, the Sindh government would spend Rs15 on agriculture, irrigation and forestry, Rs13 on roads, Rs11 each on health and social welfare, energy and power, and special programmes, Rs10 on district development, Rs9 on education, and Rs0.6 on rural development.
Punjab government would spend Rs14 on education and Rs10 on health, family planning and social protection. The agrarian province will spend Rs10 in developing its agriculture, irrigation, livestock and forestry, Rs10 on urban development and regional planning, and Rs10 on roads. Rs7 will be spent on energy sector and Rs1 on commerce and industry.
This analysis shows that it is the KP government that has taken the lead in allocating investments in social sector development, while also apportioning significant volume of the pie for infrastructure development. While Punjab and Sindh seem keen to develop agriculture, livestock, and energy & power sectors, regional development and the rehabilitation of communities and industries is more pronounced in KP budget.
Finer details later, but it appears that the Punjab government is going to follow the same development recipe of previous years by allocating Rs50 billion to programmes which are hailed as the Chief Minister Punjabs flagship projects. This approach has been adopted by the same partys government in the centre where Rs115 billion have been set aside in PSDP under New Development Initiatives.
Most of these are the programmes which the CM Punjab had launched in his last term, including Daanish Schools, Punjab Education Foundation, Punjab Health Sector Reforms Programme and Aashiana Housing Scheme. In the FY14 Punjab budget, the CM has gotten allocations for projects in areas such as health insurance, technical education, women development, population welfare, internships, low-income housing, clean drinking water, small industries, and infrastructure development.
While development allocations have increased in double-digit in the three provincial budgets, how much of that is utilised - and how effectively - remains to be seen.
================================================================
Development Allocations for 2013-14
================================================================
KP Punjab Sind
================================================================
Agriculture, Livestock, Irrigation 2% 10% 15%
District Development 1% 5% 10%
Education (all tiers) 25% 14% 9%
Energy and Power 2% 7% 11%
Health, Population, Social Welfare 9% 10% 11%
Industries 4% 1% 0.1%
Infrastructure: Urban and Rural 19% 10% 1%
Roads 13.3% 10% 13.4%
Relief and Rehabilitation 1% 0% 0.3%
Sanitation and Water Supply 6% 4% 4%
Special Programmes / Packages 0% 9% 11%
Rest of the development allocation 17% 20% 15%
Total ADP size - Rs (bn) 118.00 290.00 195.00
================================================================
Source: Provincial Annual Development Plans (2013-14)
*Shaded cell implies leader
Comments
Comments are closed.