Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Pervaiz Malik said that Punjab budget 2016-17 is the budget of the common man wherein focus has been laid on social sector. He said it is the first time in the history of the province that any provincial government has given development budget of Rs 550 billion for public welfare and a major portion of the budget has been allocated for education, health, law and order and water supply.
He said that 57 percent of the new budget has been allocated for education, health, water supply, agriculture and law and order while 62-percent more funds have been allocated for health sector, 47 percent for agriculture sector and 88 percent for water supply. Under Saaf Pani Programme, ten districts having more than 23 million population being initially focused and most of these districts are in South Punjab. He said the government has also initiated a comprehensive project of Clean Drinking Water (Punjab Saaf Pani Programme) with Rs 30 billion allocation for the next financial year.
PML-N leader said that Punjab government will create 50,000 job opportunities for overcoming unemployment problem while special attention is being paid to vocational training of the youth. In order to enable youth of Punjab to actively participate in the competitive job market, Punjab government has formulated "Punjab Skills Strategy 2018" which aims to impart skills training to two million youth of Punjab by 2018. TEVTA and PVTC are key implementers of this strategy. For FY 2016-17, Rs 6.5 billion has been allocated for this purpose, he said.
He added that allocation of Rs 4 billion has been made for Punjab Education Endowment Fund during the year 2016-17 for providing scholarships to the intelligent but deserving students. Another initiative of government for facilitating the people to educate their children in private schools is through PEF. An allocation of Rs 12 billion has been made for FY 2016-17 for this purpose.
In order to address the energy crisis, he said the government has not only initiated energy projects from its own sources but also focusing on providing environment to attract private sector investment in energy sector. The major energy projects currently ongoing in Punjab included 1180MW Bhikhi Power Plant at Sheikhupura, 1223MW Baloki Power Plant in Kasur, 1320MW Qadirabad Power Plant at Sahiwal and 1230MW Haveli Bahdur Shah Plant at Jhang. The government also achieved a major breakthrough in renewable energy sector when 100MW Quaid-e-Azam Solar Power Plant was commissioned in July 2015. This has invited private sector for investment in renewable energy and keeping in view the potential of investment, government has embarked upon the policy of divestment of Quaid-e-Azam Solar Power Plant, he added.