The Sindh government would allocate Rs 400 million in the provincial budget for fiscal 2008-09 for the electrification of 360 villages of the province. The Sindh irrigation and power department has already forwarded the proposal of the project to the finance department for its inclusion in the next budget, a high-up of the department informed Business Recorder here on Wednesday.
The department would put up the proposal for its official approval in a meeting, scheduled on Thursday (today) with the Sindh additional chief secretary in the chair, fficial said. It is hopeful that the meeting would approve the project and its amount after which it would be included in the next fiscal year's budget, he added.
It is worth mentioning here that the budget for the electrification of the villages and far-flung rural areas of the province is being allocated after a period of three years.
In the past, Rs 800 million was allocated for the purpose in fiscal 2004-05 budget of the province. The electrification of 900 villages had to be done with the budgeted amount during the period of three years, said the official, adding that the project's duration is June 2008.
The official claimed that the amount of the project has been fully utilised by the department and near 900 villages of the province were electrified during the said period, while the work at some places is still underway and would be completed in a couple of months.
The villages from almost all the districts of the province had been included in the last project, official said, adding that the proposal is also based on the same formula, as the villages from each district would be electrified under the project.
He said the department has recently issued the last payment of the previous allocated budget to Hesco, the implementing authority of the project. He said that Hesco would also execute the project on behalf of the Sindh government.