A total twenty five new development schemes in Sindh will be affected after the cut in Annual Development Plan (ADP) for the current financial year. ADP for the current financial year was initially prepared in April this year and Rs 50 billions were allocated for new schemes to be decided by the new government after general election in July 2018.
After the shortfall in federal transfer, Sindh Government in its budget for remaining nine months of the current financial year announced a cut of Rs 24 billion in the development budget by decreasing the allocation of Rs 50 billion to Rs 26 billion for new schemes. The allocations for the ongoing development schemes in the province would not be affected, which provincial government wants to complete by end of this financial year.
According to details, twenty five new schemes are related to education, energy, health, industries, irrigation, livestock & fisheries, local government, public health engineering & rural development, transport & mass transit, water & drainage, poverty reduction programme, women development and works & services sectors. In Education sector, two new schemes namely Sindh Secondary Education Improvement Project (SSEIP) and Youth Education Employment & Empowerment with Rs 150 million earlier are likely to be affected by cutting the allocations for these two schemes.
In Energy sector, two new schemes namely Sindh Solar Energy Project (SSEP) and Gas Supply to Villages with the allocations of Rs 1.105 billion earlier are likely to witness the reduction in allocations. In health sector, construction of medical college and teaching hospital at Hala a new scheme was allocated earlier Rs 1 billion. In Industries, three new schemes Establishment of Combined Effluent Treatment Plant at SITE Hyderabad, Establishment of Effluent Treatment Plant at SITE Sukhur and Pre-Sedimentation for Combined Effluent Treatment Plant at SITE Kotri were included in ADP with the Rs 280 million allocation.
In irrigation sector, Lining of Main Canals in Sindh was one new scheme with Rs 5 billion allocation. It is likely to witness reduction in its allocations. In Livestock & Fisheries Sector, Establishment of Cattle Colony at Shikarpur and Rehabilitation & Completion of remaining works of Cattle Colony at Sukhur with Rs 300 million would be affected.
One billion rupees were allocated for People's Poverty Reduction Programme in Sindh earlier, which would likely to see cut in the allocations. In public health engineering & rural development, four schemes were earlier included with Rs 3.6 billion allocations. In transport, water & drainage, women development, works & services have one scheme each. These schemes would also likely to see reduction in their allocations which were made earlier.