PESHAWAR: The provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa presented a budget of Rs1,754 billion for financial year 2024-25. Total expenditures for the year are estimated at Rs.1,654 shows a surplus of over Rs.100 billion.
The Provincial Minister for Finance, Aftab Alam presented the budget in the provincial assembly. The provincial budgets are usually presented after the presentation of the federal budget in the National Assembly, but the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa went untraditionally to unveil its annual budget ahead the federal government.
According to the budget estimates, out of the total receipts, a lion share of Rs.1212 billion will be received from the federal government while the volume of its own provincial receipts is estimated at Rs.93 billion and Rs.31 billion in other heads.
An amount of Rs.259 billion will be received from the federal government in head of the merged districts of the erstwhile Federal Administered Tribal Area (FATA), while Rs.130 billion and Rs.26 billion will be received in head of foreign assistance and Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) respectively.
Out of the projects with foreign assistance, an amount of Rs.122 billion will be in head of loans and Rs.7 billion as grant.
The current expenditure for settled and merged districts is estimated at Rs.1237 billion. In merged districts an amount of Rs.52 billion is allocated for the provincial salaries, Tehsil level salaries Rs.42 billion and Rs.4 billion for pension.
Similarly, an amount of Rs.17 billion has been allocated for homeless people in the merged districts and another amount of Rs.418 billion in head of non-salary expenditures.
For provincial salaries an amount of Rs.246 has been allocated for settled districts, Rs.26 for salaries of Medical Teaching Institutes (MTIs) and Rs.263 for Tehsil level salaries. Another amount of Rs.162 billion has been allocated for pension in settled districts and Rs.234 billion for non-salary expenditures.
An amount of Rs.12 billion has been allocated for Ehsas Programme, Youth and Hunar Programme while another amount of Rs.3 billion has been allocated for the construction of 5000 houses under Ehsaas Apna Programme.
An allocation of Rs.10 billion has also been proposed for Chashma Right Bank Canal, Rs.26 billion for procurement of wheat and Rs.3 billion for subsidy in head of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Peshawar.
An amount of Rs.6.50 billion has been proposed for the maintenance and repair of roads in Peshawar and Rs.2.5 billion for emergency assistance operations.
The budget document said that Dir Motorway, D.I. Khan Motorway, Haqla Park and motorway will be constructed under Public Private Partnership (PPP) while 470 megawatt Spate Gah Hydropower Project will also be constructed and an amount of Rs.262 billion has been allocated for Higher and Secondary Education.
Similarly, Rs.28.93 billion and Rs.31.54 billion have been allocated for Agriculture and Energy Sectors respectively while 235 megawatt electricity will be generated through Naran Hydropower Project.
Masajid, hospitals, educational institutions and streetlights will be shifted on solar energy under Green Pakhtunkhwa while ‘Billion Tree Plus Project’ will also be initiated under the programme. Similarly, an allocation of Rs.14.69 billion and Rs.14.5 billion has also been proposed for livestock and environment sectors.
Ten percent increases in the salaries of government employees and monthly wage of Rs.36000 have also been proposed in the budget for the next financial year.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024