In a friendly environment, the City Council approved the city district government Karachi's (CDGK) Rs 52.360 billion budget for fiscal year 2009-10 on Friday. The City Council, in a specially convened budget session held here at City Council Hall, Old KMC Building, with Naib Nazim Nasrin Jalil in the chair, through a unanimous resolution approved the budget-2009-2010.
The budget, presented in the house by Syed Mustafa Kamal, City Nazim, was approved without any further discussion as the opposition members supported the Haq Parast Panel-dominated treasury in passing the budget. The budget includes an estimated non-development expenditure of Rs 25.542 billion and Rs 26.818 billion for development expenditures. The budget also estimated a surplus of Rs 170.36 billion with total expected receipts standing at Rs 52.531 billion as against the total expenditure of Rs 52.360 billion.
On the expenditure side, the document estimates include Rs 6,137.41 million for establishment expenses, Rs 2,003.37 million for contingent expenses and Rs 300.84 million for repair and maintenance works. Estimated funds/share, to be transferred to towns and union councils (UCs), amount to Rs 2,461.95 million, while allocation for devolved departments (Government of Sindh) (salary and non-salary) stands at Rs 11,500.24 million.
Allocations for the Water and Sanitation Department (KWSB) includes current expenditure of Rs 5,600.65 million and development expenditure Rs 5,795.76 million. The expected receipts for the next fiscal year includes current receipts at Rs 24,631.42 million, capital receipts at Rs 2,167.87 million, Annual Development Programme at Rs 2,835.31 million, devolved departments (government of Sindh) (salary and non-salary) at Rs 11, 500.24 million.
According to the budget the Works and Services department would get the biggest allocation of Rs 11,361.78 million followed by the education and health sectors which would get Rs 10,123.92 million and Rs 3,983.87 million, respectively. Rs 36.84 million and Rs 63.63 million are the lowest amounts allocated in the budget for Enterprise and Investment Promotion and Law Department, respectively.
The budget also shows an expected expenditure of Rs 2,461.95 million, Rs 2,941.10 million, Rs 1,524.34 million, Rs 163.75 million, Rs 86.02 million and Rs 64.98 million under the respective heads of Share of Towns/UCs, Municipal Service, Transport and Communication, Naib Nazim and Council Secretariat, Nazim Secretariat and Literacy Department.
Allocations in the budget for some of the major development projects include Rs 2 billion for development/improvement of basic infrastructure, Rs 451.24 million for uplift works in UCs, Rs 1,500 million for privatisation of Solid Waste Management System, Rs 5.6 billion for Corridor-3 and 4 projects, Rs 500 million for purchase of CNG buses, Rs 100 million for uplift of industrial areas and Rs 939.17 million for Tamer-e-Karachi Programme.
Other allocations include Rs 350 million for Elevated Expressway, Rs 500 million for Karachi Mass Transit system and Rs 500 million for the construction of parking plazas. City Nazim in his budget speech said that Rs 679 million, Rs 250 million and Rs 50 million would be spent on the development works of model schools, English Medium Schools in every town, and teachers' training, respectively.
In the social sector, Kamal said, for new city cricket teams, vocational centres in four towns, development of Safari park and art gallery Rs 20 million, Rs 190 million, Rs 170 million and Rs 100 million would be allocated, respectively. Referring to a meeting with some members of the opposition prior to the announcement of the budget, City Nazim said that Rs 25 million would be given to every UC with the liabilities of the financial year 2006-2007 within next few months.
In the budget speech, Kamal, also briefed the house about the development works, the city government has been successfully completed so far in its tenure. After the budget speech, some prominent members from the opposition like Ramzan Awan, Jumman Darwan, Dr Zia, and Shamim Mumtaz showed their acceptance of the budget, while demanding proper funding for all UCs.
Interestingly, while ignoring the demand of Mehboob-ur-Rehman, an opposition member, for keeping the budget for discussion in the next sessions, other councillors from opposition benches allowed the convenor to table the budget for voting.
Asif Siddiqui, leader of the house, praised the unified support of the opposition members and congratulated the City Nazim for presenting a balanced budget. Arshad Qureshi, another Haq Parast member, also hailed the role of opposition. Meanwhile the treasury members started raising ear-splitting slogans of "Jia Altaf & Jia Muttahida".
Earlier, the house through passing a resolution condoled the death of mother of Yusuf Zai, Haq Parast Union Councillor. The house also offered Fatiha for the late Mian Tufail, former leader of Jamaat-i-Islami, and renowned pop singer Michael Jackson. Later, the convenor adjourned the session for an indefinite period.
Comments
Comments are closed.