Daily Times

Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal on Friday informed the National Assembly that the government has launched an initiative for uplifting of 20 poorest districts of the country.

Responding to a question during Question Hour, the minister said that the said initiative would be completed with the cooperation of the provincial governments. 50 per cent cost would be provided by the federal government while remaining would be bore by the respective provincial governments, he added.

He said on the directives of Prime Minister a programme has also been included in annual Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for urban Sindh which would be carried out with the consultation of the elected representatives of the province.

He said volume of PSDP has already been shrunken to Rs 1100 billion from Rs 1400 billion due to fiscal constraints. Around 60 per cent share of total revenue was given to the provinces under National Finance Commission (NFC) award and the federal government has very limited space, he added.

He said PSDP allocation was not made on the basis of provinces rather funds were specified for national infrastructure development. In the last budget a hefty allocation of Rs 130 billion was made for the development of Balochistan, as the government was giving priority to the province, he added.

He said the feasibility for Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway was completed in 2017-18 but after the change of the government, the project was put in cold storage. The government has also invited Chinese companies for the project, he added.

He said Karachi to Hyderabad Superway was also not sufficient adding that an alternative motorway between Karachi and Hyderabad would also be constructed for which feasibility was being prepared.