The federal government has released Rs470.8 billion (67.2 per cent) including Rs95.84 billion foreign aid (74.7 per cent) for various ongoing and new development projects under the Public-Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2019-2020 against the total budgeted allocation of Rs701 billion.

The Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives provides weekly updates of release of its development projects under the PSDP. The government has released only 0.6 per cent development funds this week compared to the previous week.

In the previous week, the Ministry of Planning had released Rs467.24 billion (66.57 per cent) under the PSDP 2019-2020 against the total budgeted allocation of Rs701 billion.

According to the latest data of PSDP 2019-2020 released by the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms on Friday, the government released Rs196.371 billion (65.55 per cent) including Rs13.24 billion foreign aid for development projects of various ministries, divisions and related departments out of Rs299.57 billion budgeted allocation.

The government also released a total of Rs160.06 billion (78.5 per cent) including Rs79.1 billion (87.23 per cent) foreign aid out of Rs201.6 billion for development budget of corporations; Rs145.48 billion including Rs68.64 billion foreign aid for the projects of the National Highways Authority (NHA); and Rs14.58 billion including Rs10.46 billion foreign aid for National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC)/Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO).

The ministry released a total of Rs34.22 billion (76.3 percent) including Rs2.77 billion foreign aid out of Rs44.85 billion budgeted allocation for development projects of special areas; Rs21.17 billion including Rs1.94 billion foreign aid for development projects of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK); and Rs13 billion including Rs833.934 million foreign aid for Gilgit-Baltistan for financial year 2019-2020.

The government released Rs7.5 billion including Rs1.187 billion out of Rs11.876 billion for development projects of the National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Division.

A total of Rs30.18 billion out of Rs46.99 billion have been released for the Cabinet Division. The government released Rs38.49 billion for Security Enhancement against Rs53 billion budgeted allocation for financial year 2019-2020.

The Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms released Rs10.72 billion for development projects of the Railway Division against Rs16 billion budgeted allocation, Rs2.12 billion for development projects of Science and Technology Research Division, Rs8.17 billion for the National Food Security and Research Division.

The ministry said that Rs3.44 billion had been released for development projects of the Federal Education and Professional Training Division out of Rs4.796 billion budgeted allocation, and Rs22.76 billion including Rs132.31 million foreign aid had been released out of Rs29 billion for the development projects of the Higher Education Commission.

The ministry released a total of Rs53.1 billion for the Water Resources Division including Rs5.78 billion foreign and Rs229.47 million for Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority.

The government has released Rs8.17 billion out of Rs12 billion for the National Food Security and Research Division. A total of Rs6 billion have been released for development projects of the Climate Change Division.

A total of Rs23 billion have been released out of Rs48 billion for development project of the Merged Areas 10 Years Development Plan and Rs9.68 billon against Rs24 billion for the merged districts of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.