Sindh government has placed ending energy crisis, restoring peace in the province and creation of new jobs on top of its priorities' list it set for the next fiscal year. At a post-budget press conference, held at CM Sindh House on Tuesday, Advisor to Chief Minister on Finance, Syed Murad Ali Shah, said that the government would satisfy the energy demands of the province in the next five years.
He said that the government was following public-private partnership policy for energy generation. He hoped the province would be able to export electricity to other provinces of the country within next five years. An electricity generating project of 250 MW has already been started, he said, adding that the province would be able to produce 100 MW of electricity in the next 18 months. Shah said that government had laid greater emphasis on power generation projects to end energy crisis.
He regretted that the federal government had transferred a "very little amount" to Sindh, as the province depends on the centre for its 80 percent of funds. He feared that shortage of funds from federal government may plunge the province into financial crisis.
"The government is now relying on borrowings from State Bank for funds," he added. He warned that if the center continued to delay funds release, the province would likely to face increased financial problems.
The Advisor said that the federal government for the last three months had not released the share of the province from grants and revenue collection heads. Due to which, the province is under financial stress, he added. Murad Ali Shah said that allocation of development funds were less as compared to the allocations of last fiscal year because of the federal government's low tax collection.
He said that the limits of borrowing from State Bank was Rs 15 billion, which was equivalent to six months' salaries of the provincial government's employees. He further said that the government was considering to increase the limit of borrowing from the central bank after further recruitment in public sector departments. He said that the government would request the central bank to increase the overdraft limit from Rs 15 billion to Rs 25 billion. Despite weak financial position of the province, the government has, however, focused on major uplift projects of various sectors, he added.
He said that Thar coal project was on the priority list of the government and it had proposed Rs 12 billion in the next financial year budget. He added that Hesco and SSGC had singed an agreement for a 250 MW of electricity project of which 100 MW power generation would start in the next 18 months.
The finance advisor said that the provincial government planned to develop Karachi Circular Railways in three years instead of five years. He hinted at an austerity plan to cut funds of ministers and scale down non-development expenditures in the province.
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