The Annual Planning Co-ordination Committee (APCC) has proposed Rs 490 billions Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) for the consideration of the National Economic Council (NEC), which may reduce it due to the financial constraints the government is faced with.
As both the Ministry of Finance and Planning Commission (PC) differed over the total volume of PSDP for next fiscal, the tax collecting authorities cautioned the government of an uphill task to enhance revenue. "The government has just few options for more revenue," Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Abdullah Yousuf told newsmen, as he came out of the APCC meeting.
Planning Commission Chairman Salman Farooqi told newsmen the allocation for water sector would be relatively more this year because of energy and food problems.
The meeting identified water, energy, agriculture, Thar coal development and Balochistan as priority issues, which required financial allocation as well as urgency, he said. Thus, there might be cut in allocation for health, education and other social welfare-related projects due to the financial constraints this government was put in largely because of fiscal mismanagement of the previous government.
The ultimate decision about the PSDP size for the next fiscal, he said, would be decided in the NEC meeting on May 30. There was a possibility that the PSDP might be reduced due to the existing fiscal space available to the government, he added.
The Planning Commission Chairman said there would be no load shedding by December 2009, as the government would pursue a multi-pronged strategy to develop water reservoirs as well as exploit Thar coal for power generation.
Detailing about Thar coal, he said the government planned a roundtable extending invitations to donors and foreign investors as well as a company would also be representing the Sindh province and the Federal government, he appears optimistic that the project would be started within months.
He said the investment in water projects would ultimately benefit the Pakistan agriculture sector that was really needed to be focused on in the brewing food situation across the globe. To a question that how much PSDP was utilised this year, he said Rs 270 billions were expected to be spent.