PSDP spending up by 82pc in five months

ISLAMABAD: At the cost of slowdown in disbursements for development projects of federal ministries, the overall spending under the Public Sector Development Programme increased by 82 per cent to Rs216 billion during the first five months of the current fiscal year, mainly because of a surge in security-related spending in the tribal region.

During the same period last year, an amount of Rs118.6bn was spent under the PSDP.

Some projects in road network and power generation are also being initiated under the $46bn China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) this year.

In its latest report on development spending, the Planning Commission said the government had disbursed over Rs52.6bn for special development projects for security enhancement and temporarily displaced persons during the first five months (July-November) against an annual allocation of Rs100bn.

Security-related expenditures in tribal region lead to hike

This was the biggest spending so far this year by any sector but, according to an official, details of expenditures on various projects under this head have been kept as a ‘guarded secret’ because of their utilisation by the armed forces.

Also read: Only 40pc of development funds for Fata released

Another big disbursement was made for the power sector, which received about Rs37.5bn in the first five months, compared to a meagre amount of Rs2.96bn allocated during the same period last year, showing an increase of 1167pc.

Of this, a lion’s share of Rs10bn each was released for LNG-based power projects at Balloki and Haveli Bahadur Shah in Punjab. No details were given about other projects for which Rs17bn had been disbursed.

Ironically, the allocation for the water sector was reduced by about 60pc to Rs5.6bn from last year’s Rs14bn, although the country is fast heading towards water scarcity.

Another major chunk of Rs29.3bn was provided to the National Highway Authority (NHA). It received about Rs19bn last year.

Wapda and NHA were jointly disbursed Rs66.8bn against Rs21.9bn last year, indicating an initial pick up in the projects planned under the CPEC.

On the other hand, total disbursements for development projects of all 37 federal ministries were contained at only Rs58.9bn against last year’s Rs80bn. Last year’s PSDP expenditures were scaled down to the level of fiscal year 2013-14 in the first five months to make up for a fiscal deficit higher than the commitment made to the IMF because of failure to meet revenue collection target.

The disbursements for special areas under the federal control like Azad Kashmir, Fata and Gilgit-Baltistan were kept frozen at the level of last fiscal year – Rs15.5bn in the first five months this year.

The disbursement for the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission was reduced by 75pc to Rs5.9bn from last year’s Rs24bn.

Projects under the interior ministry received Rs3.33bn in the first five months against Rs1.44bn during the same period last year. The disbursement for the Higher Education Commission was raised by 142pc to Rs18.7bn from Rs7.7bn.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2015