ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal on Monday informed the Senate that the government has made rational and adequate allocation under Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for provinces and less developed areas for increasing pace of development and progress.
Giving details on the provincial allocations for PSDP in the financial year 2016-17, details of releases and the provincial allocations for PSDP for the financial year 2017-18, the minister said that the amount was allocated to address the deprived feelings and to reduce the level of poverty in these under developed areas.
The minister while sharing a province wise break-up of PSDP allocation in the Senate said that out of total amount, the government has allocated Rs 42 billion for federal capital, Rs 97 billion for Punjab (11%), Sindh Rs 70 billion (8%), KPK Rs 93 billion (10%), Balochistan Rs 80 billion (9.3%) while allocation of Rs 32 billion (3.7%) for AJK, 3.3% for Gilgit-Baltistan and 3.4% allocation in PSDP for FATA has been made.
He said that medical and technical colleges were being built in Gilgit Baltistan besides Software Park while several other development projects are being started in FATA and Gilgit-Baltistan.
The Minister said that the present allocation of Rs 1000 billion under PSDP was the highest ever in the country’s history.
He added the government has allocated 90% amount in PSDP on on-going projects following financial discipline with focus on completion of meaningful projects.
He said that an amount of Rs 411 billion has been allocated for infrastructure development while an amount of Rs 404 billion has been earmarked for energy sector. He added sufficient allocation has been made for human resource development.
Ahsan Iqbal said that Rs 35 billion has been allocated for Higher Education Commission (HEC) to improve the skills of talented youth through scholarships in abroad. He said that under its new programme, the government will send its 10,000 youth to USA universities on scholarships.
He said that to meet challenges in Information Technology sector, the government would train 100,000 youth on IT. He added the government has planned to set up International Center of Civilization in the country.
Ahsan Iqbal said that the government has planned a strategy on climate change to improve weather forecast system.
He said that the government had also allocated Rs 180 billion for China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
He said that PSDP was an important part of the federal budget which ensures the completion of development agenda of the government. He added efforts were made to correlate the demands and priorities against the past practices in tenure of other parties’ government that resulted failure of achieving targets and creating huge gap in demand and supply like in power sector.
He said that the government had planned Vision-2025 in consultation with the provinces and started implementation after signature of chief ministers of all the four provinces.
He said that after 18th amendment, the provinces were responsible for smooth running of various sectors; however, the federal government always supplemented its support to these sectors whenever required.
Ahsan Iqbal said that improving national infrastructure was the responsibility of the federal government without considering the responsibility of provinces and geographical presence.
He added the government had already started supporting many mega projects in provinces like $11 billion Dasu Hydropower project, US $ 14 billion Diamar-Basha project, Karachi Port project etc..
He said that metro bus project was being started in Sindh with allocation of Rs 24 billion by the federal government.
He added to address the provision of soft drinking water to the people of Karachi, the federal government was contributing Rs 12.5 billion.
He said that in order to improve the water supply situation in Balochistan, the federal government has allocated an amount of Rs 17 billion.
