The National Economic Council (NEC) has approved Rs 1,155 billion development budget for the next fiscal year with federal Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) earmarked at Rs 540 billion, 50 percent more than the current year''s allocation. Minister Planning Division, Ahsan Iqbal told media during an informal briefing after the NEC meeting presided over by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that federal PSDP allocation included Rs 109 billion foreign component.
He said the block allocation of Rs 115 billion was made in the federal PSDP, which would be utilised to implement the development schemes envisaged in the party''s manifesto such as metro bus service in Islamabad and Karachi. The minister said the NEC approved Rs 615 billion for next fiscal year''s provincial Annual Development Plan (ADP) and abolished Prime Minister''s discretionary fund under the head of PWP-II. The meeting renamed People''s Works Programme as Tamir-e-Pakistan Programme (TPP) and allocated Rs 5 billion to implement the projects.
He said the energy sector was given top priority by allocating Rs 225 billion for the next fiscal year with Rs 107 billion under PSDP and Rs 118 billion would be arranged by WAPDA. Giving details of some important energy sector projects approved by the NEC, Ahsan said Rs 52 billion has been approved for Wapda and Pepco and Rs 59 billion for water resources.
He said Rs 17 billion has been allocated for the purpose of land acquisition of Diamer-Bhasha Dam and another Rs 8.2 billion for its construction. The government also allocated Rs 25 billion for Neelum-Jhelum Hydel Project, Rs 14 billion for Tarbela extension, Rs 5.5 billion for Golan Gol dam and Rs 3.3 billion for Dobar Khawr project. He said Rs 3.5 billion has been earmarked for Mangla Dam and Rs 5.2 billion for Kachi Canal. The NEC allocated Rs 42 billion for Chashma nuclear power plants and Rs 10 billion for Karachi Costal Power Project.
The NEC also approved Rs 105 billion projects for transport sector with Rs 63 billion for National Highway Authority (NHA) for construction of road infrastructure and Rs 31 billion for Pakistan Railways. An amount of Rs 25 billion for population and health sector projects was earmarked in the PSDP and another Rs 25 billion for education sector, which included Rs 18.4 billion for Higher Education Commission (HEC). The NEC approved Rs 42 billion allocation in PSDP for Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan.
Replying to questions, the minister said fiscal space would be created through greater resource mobilisation as it is critical to move toward higher growth rate and new projects would be initiated especially in the energy sector by utilising allocation of Rs 115 billion. He said the NEC also constituted a committee to review all the PSDP schemes with the purpose of doing away with bogus projects and cap the low priority ones. The committee headed by the Planning Commission minister has been directed to submit recommendations by July 31.
The NEC also authorised the committee to streamline the process of release of funds to provinces. The Planning and Development was authorised to make adjustments within the approved PSDP size as decided by the committee. He said on the recommendation of the Planning Commission, the NEC projected 4.4 percent growth for the next fiscal year on the basis of agriculture sector growth at 3.8 percent, manufacturing 4.5 percent and growth in services sector at 4.6 percent. The current account deficit is estimated at 1.1 percent of the GDP following a gap in trade account.
The meeting was attended by Chief Minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif, Chief Minister of Sindh, Qaim Ali Shah, Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervaiz Khattak, Chief Minister Balochistan Dr Abdul Malik Baloch, Chief Minister Gilgit Baltistan Syed Mehdi Shah, Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Engineer Shaukat Ullah, Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, Advisor to Chief Minister of Finance, Syed Murad Ali Shah Senior Minister for Finance, Siraj ul Haq, Minister for Water and Power, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Minister for Planning and Development, Ahsan Iqbal, Chief Secretaries of all provinces and senior officials participated in the meeting.