“The financial position of the province is precarious because of decline in federal revenue transfer and this has badly affected development portfolio of the provincial government,” lamented Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Tuesday.
He was presiding over two different meetings with the departments of Finance and Planning & Development (P&D) and a joint meeting with Irrigation and Works Departments to chalk out the strategy for the next development budget.
CM Shah claimed that for the next financial year, thrust would be made on the completion of on-going schemes.
“We may hardly include few new schemes, otherwise focus would be given to the completion of on-going development works,” he added.
The CM added that that next budget would focus on the completion of water supply, sanitation and school schemes.
The P&D department was directed to conduct a survey to assess and evaluate the impact of the development of the road network, bridges on river Indus and hospitals.
“We must know what have done and what we have to do to create convenience for the people of Sindh,” he maintained.
Shah also said that during the current financial year, the provincial ADP was Rs 230 billion against which expenditures up to the end of April 2019 were recorded at Rs 72.88 billion.
This utilisation was said to go up to Rs 140 billion by the end of June.
The chief minister added the road network had an allocation of Rs 56.6 billion against which they Rs 27.8 billion had been utilised.
Similarly, Irrigation sector utilised Rs 17.8 billion against their allocation of Rs 35.8 billion.
He added that road and irrigation sectors had utilised Rs 45.66 billion, 64 per cent of Sindh’s total expenditures.
CM Shah also pointed out that the Water and Sanitation were allocated Rs 42.5 billion but they utilised Rs 6.5 billion.
The health department was given Rs 15.8 billion and it utilised Rs 4.3 billion.
He maintained that the education department utilised Rs 5.9 billion against the allocated Rs 15.8 billion. The declining utilisation of development funds was reported for two different reasons: fewer releases due to the financial crunch and the reluctance of the officers.
“We have tried our best to develop confidence among the officers so that they can utilise the available funds,” he noted.
Sindh Minister for Works, Syed Nasir Shah, told the meeting that as many as 326 road sector schemes worth Rs 25.8 billion had been launched against which Rs 21.4 billion were released while the expenditures stood at Rs 16.8 billion.
Nasir Shah added that out of 109 schemes, 70 would be completed in Hyderabad and Sukkur regions.
He requested to increase the next ADP of Works & Service Department by 40 per cent.
However, the chief minister claimed it was not possible.
“I would try to increase your next year’s ADP to some extent. Otherwise, funds would be allocated only for the completion of on-going schemes,” he added.
P&D Chairperson Naheed Shah told the meeting that second draft of the next year’s ADP from the different departments had been received, which would be studied as per financial allocation.
They would be finalised with the approval of the chief minister.
The Irrigation Department also proposed to construct land along canal embankments and dock bungalows but the chief minister said they would be approved if the financial position of the government was improved.