Rs 253 billion PSDP allocations: Rs 126 billion released for various projects in eight months

The federal government released Rs 126 billion during the first eight months from Rs 253 billion Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) allocations for infrastructure, social sector and other projects in the current fiscal year. The official PSDP spending figures released by the Planning Commission up to March 2, 2012 have not provided any details about the releases of foreign component estimated in the PSDP against some very critical projects related to energy sector.
Analysis of the data shows that the Ministry of Water and Power projects in the PSDP heavily relied on foreign funding, but it was not clear whether any disbursement was materialised during the first eight months of the current fiscal year or not. The Planning Commission stated that foreign aid disbursement amount is received in the Economic Affairs Division and the data placed on the website by the PC for PSDP releases up to February 24, 2012 was exclusive of foreign aid disbursement.
According to Planning Commission figures, about 40 projects of the Ministry of Water and Power in the PSDP were projected to be financed by foreign aid but the information on the website showed that no amount was released against these projects during the first eight months of the current fiscal year.
The total size of federal PSDP was Rs 290 billion with Rs 253.6 billion component of rupee and Rs 36.5 billion foreign aid component. The government allocated an amount of Rs 126.3 billion for infrastructure projects and Rs 123.9 billion for social sector projects for the current fiscal year and Rs 3.3 billion for others.
The Planning Commission has released Rs 73.2 billion for infrastructure related development projects from the allocated amount of Rs 126.3 billion PKR component for the current fiscal year and Rs 51.5 billion for social sector projects from allocation of Rs 123.9 billion PKR component. The government also made Rs 31.5 billion foreign aid allocation for infrastructure related development projects and Rs 5.3 billion foreign aid component for social sector projects.