Punjab local government and CDD projects: 60 percent of 2007-08 funds may be lapsed

Till the end of third quarter of Fiscal Year 2007-08, the Punjab Local Government and Community Development Department (CDD) could only use 40 percent of the total development funds allocated to them and it is expected that the remaining would lapse by the end of the current fiscal year.
Planning and Development Board sources said on Monday that the Punjab government had set aside Rs 12.981 billion to the Punjab Local Government and Community Development Department in the last Punjab budget for development projects of which Rs 10.892 billion were released. However, the department could only manage to spend Rs 5.429 billion till the month of March, which is almost 40 percent of the allocated amount and 50 percent of the total released amount.
They observed that the department could not utilise the allocated funds, since the Election Commission of Pakistan had imposed ban on releasing of funds for new schemes after the announcement of the election schedule. "After the imposition of the ban, funds were released only for ongoing schemes, whereas no new scheme was initiated during the election days," they added.
Sources disclosed that conversion of Punjab government's Personal Ledger Account into Special Drawing Account (SDA) also caused problems in utilisation of the funds by the department. They explained that the conversion process of the accounts from PLA to SDA took at least one month. Moreover, under the PLA, bloc allocation was made to the department and under the SDA the funds were released against the schemes only.
They also disclosed that for the next fiscal year (2008-09), the local government department has demanded around Rs 10 billion for the development projects. "Also, the Punjab government has renamed Local Development Programme to Punjab Development Programme. Under the head of Punjab Development Programme, the local government department has asked for Rs 3 billion, to be spent on development schemes, proposed by parliamentarians in their respective constituencies.
The development schemes included provision of clean drinking water, construction of roads and sewerage system. The department has also demanded extra Rs 3 billion for the development of katchi abadis," they added.
According to them, the department has also asked for Rs 2 billion for the ongoing scheme Southern Punjab Urban Services Project. During the last fiscal year, Rs 1.5 billion was allocated for this project, out of which around 50 percent funds could be utilised. It is a World Bank funded programme and so far around Rs 1.3 billion have been spent on this development project.
"The department also requested the government to allocate Rs 714 million in the next budget for funding of its new project of constructing union council offices in Punjab. In the first phase of the project, around 300 union council offices would be built and priority would be given to those union councils that owns land. All the UC offices would be of the same design," they added.