The total development outlay for 2007-08 has been worked out at Rs 549 billion that includes Rs 479 billion for the federal and the provincial Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) and Rs 35 billion each for special programmes and corporations, said working paper prepared for the Annual Plan Coordination Committee (APCC).
The APCC, which met here Monday with Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Dr Akram Sheikh in the chair, will recommend the PSDP size to the National Economic Council (NEC) which will meet on May 31. The sources said that there could be some minor increase or cuts in the proposed size of the PSDP. The APCC will conclude its deliberations on the development outlay for the next fiscal today (Tuesday), said the working paper.
The APCC meeting continued for over ten hours. According to the working paper prepared for the meeting, the APCC rejected the proposal of the priority committees, which recommended that PSDP allocation should be around Rs 420 billion.
However, according to the sources, the PSDP size proposed by the priority committees was actually for ongoing development projects in various sectors. Nothing was proposed by the priority committees for new projects.
Sources privy to the meeting told Business Recorder that Sindh and the NWFP raised serious objections over the allocation of Rs 2.6 billion in the next fiscal year for five big dams.
The representatives of the two governments said that the federating units and the centre had not reached any consensus on the construction of Kalabagh and Akhori dams. They questioned the allocation for both the dams. However, the deputy chairman informed the meeting that allocated amount would be spent on the two projects only after consensus among the federal and the provincial governments.
In an informal chat with a group of journalists after the meeting, Dr Akram Sheikh said that the APCC reviewed the PSDP 2006-07 and the projections for the 2007-08. He said that there would be substantial increase in the PSDP allocation especially for water sector, as the country needed more water resources.
He said that economy would grow by 7.1 or 7.2 percent in the current fiscal. He said the size of economy would remain around $149 billion to 150 billion in 2006-07 and the projections for the next fiscal suggest that the economic growth would remain on track.
The Deputy Chairman Planning Commission refused to give any detail about the exact allocations in the PSDP for next fiscal for federal ministries and provincial governments. The actual size of the PSDP would be determined by the NEC. He said the APCC would remain in session and the final proposed allocations would come today (Tuesday), he said.
The NEC, he said, would review the PSDP spending in the current fiscal and the projections for next fiscal. The NEC will also look at the economic growth in the current fiscal and the projections for the same in the next fiscal, he added. Besides this, the NEC would also take the Vision 2030, which calls for co-ordinated, holistic, integrated approach for knowledge-based economy.
According to the working paper, the allocations for federal ministries has been worked out at Rs 329 billion in the next fiscal, which is 22 percent more than the allocations for the same in the current fiscal.
The allocation for provinces has been proposed at Rs 150 billion, which, according to the working paper, is 30 percent more than the allocation for the same in the current fiscal. Sources said that around 49 percent of the proposed PSDP allocation would go to infrastructure sector around 40 percent to communications and transport and the remaining allocation to other sectors.
The sources said that the total demand of the executing agencies was more than 578 billion. However, the total demand of the ministries, other federal provincial agencies could be approved in toto. The sources said that the priority committees had suggested that PSDP size should be around 420 billion, which was not even accepted by the APCC.
According to the Planning Commission assessment the PSDP size has been proposed at Rs 361 billion. However, the allocations proposed by the Priority Committees and the Planning Commission were not in conformity with the GDP/PSDP ratio. The PSDP size must increase to 4.7 percent of the GDP to meet the MTDF and MDGs targets.
Water and power ministry has sought an amount of Rs 51 billion for water sector and Rs 48.7 billion for power sector. Apart from this the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation has sought an amount of Rs 4.18 billion for the implementation of financial improvement programme. However, according to the sources, the demand is excessively higher and the APCC would discuss the issues in detail today (Tuesday).