In the Punjab Budget 2006-07, education sector is likely to get an increase in its Annual Development Programme (ADP) allocation from Rs 9200 million (2005-06) to Rs 12,760 million (12.760 billion), an increase of Rs 3560 million or 38.69 per cent.
Sources disclosed this to Business Recorder here on Thursday. They said the government had remained focused on improving the state of education in the province and its main emphasis in the forthcoming budget would be education, hence it would witness a hefty gain in the ADP allocation.
They further disclosed that among other social sectors, the health sector would see a gain of Rs 795 million, from Rs 3300 million to Rs 4095 million, an increase of 24 per cent. "Water supply, sanitation and urban development was another area of focus for the government for past few years, thus its ADP allocation also expected to increase from Rs 5000 million to Rs 6209 million, an increase of 24.18 per cent," they added.
According to them, on the economic side, agriculture sector would gain most of the increase in the ADP allocation from Rs 925 million in 2005-06 to Rs 1575 million in 2006-07, an increase of 70.3 per cent. Among other economic sectors, the second major gainer was industries, TEVTA and mine and minerals; its funding would enhance from Rs 760 million to Rs 1173 million, an increase of 54.34 per cent.
Irrigation sector was also expected to receive 20 per cent additional funds of Rs 1400 million, from Rs 7000 million to Rs 8400 million. Meanwhile, ADP allocation for roads would decrease from Rs 12,500 million to Rs 11,870 million, a decline by 5.04 per cent.
The sources said that in terms of percentage of the total ADP of 2006-07, the education sector would take a big share of it, ie 20.25 per cent. In comparison, the health sector would only get 6.5 per cent of the ADP funding. Interestingly, this critical sector would only witness an increase of 0.27 per cent in the share of total ADP outlay. "This sorry state reflects in the existing health facilities in the province," they added.
According to them, water, sanitation and urban development share would constitute 9.86 per cent of ADP, agriculture 2.5 per cent, roads 18.84 per cent, irrigation 13.33 per cent, and industries, TEVTA and mine and minerals 1.86 per cent.
They averred that those ADP allocations were part of the Medium Term Development Framework (MTDF), which was formulated in 2005 for four years.
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