PSDP funds utilisation strategy mapped out

ISLAMABAD: The government has formulated a comprehensive strategy to monitor the pace of development works and full utilisation of Public Sector Development Programme funds for the current fiscal year to achieve higher growth in the country to create employment opportunities.

On Friday, Prime Minister Imran Khan presided over a meeting on effective utilisation of PSDP fund for the current fiscal year 2021-22, ie, Rs900 billion, up by almost 40 percent over Rs 650 billion for the last fiscal year.

The Finance Ministry has recently been stating that the government would utilise PSDP funds to achieve higher growth to cater to the needs of employment.

82pc of released PSDP funds utilised in FY21

The meeting was attended by ministers for Planning Asad Umar, of Energy Hammad Azhar, Communications Murad Saeed, EAD Umar Ayub Khan, and by special assistants, Malik Amin Aslam, Dr Faisal Sultan, and relevant senior officials.

Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin attended the meeting through a video link.

The meeting was informed that to expedite the pace of development work, the process of disbursement of funds has been simplified and streamlined and flexibility has been created to maintain the continuity of projects.

Ministries have been further empowered to release funds as per the requirements of the projects.

The meeting, while briefed about the funds spent in the last financial year, was informed that the overall utilisation rate of funds was 104 percent, which reflects optimum progress with regard to development works.

Moreover, as a result of inter-ministerial oversight, Rs140 billion funds were expedited and largely transferred to projects that had a positive impact on the country’s development.

Additionally, the Ministry of Planning is constantly monitoring the completion of the projects for which a comprehensive mechanism has been formulated to ensure savings and proper utilisation of funds in the projects, the premier was told.

The Ministry of Planning informed the prime minister that efforts have been made to ensure full provision of funds for timely completion of ongoing projects.

In this regard, 70 percent funds have been allocated for ongoing development projects and 30 percent for new projects.

A total of 351 development projects are being ensured with full funding for completion and the capacity of the ministries to monitor the projects is being enhanced for continuous monitoring of the projects throughout the year.

Rs182.4bn for 92 hydropower and water projects earmarked in PSDP

The prime minister was told that third-party firms will be involved in overseeing the flagship projects, which will speed up the work and create transparency.

Regarding the automation of the procedure involved, the meeting was informed that the PC-1 and the PC-II have been fully computerised and the Ministry of Planning is not accepting paper files this year.

Secretaries of all the ministries will present cash and work plans by July 31 and the use of development funds will determine the performance of them and ministry staff.

The meeting was also briefed on the progress on e-procurement and e-payment system and that the Ministry of Planning would ensure that the prime minister is submitted a quarterly report on the progress of these initiatives.

The prime minister said that one of the first responsibilities of the government is to ensure proper utilisation of public tax money.

He wanted that steps should be taken to ensure automation in the system, adding that initiatives such as e-tendering were of fundamental importance to eradicate corruption.

The prime minister added that the quality of work of the ministries should be further improved and resources should be utilised by categorising the projects according to their importance.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021