The Sindh Finance department, on the instruction of Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, has released Rs 32.4 billion for the completion of on-going development schemes in the province.
It has already released Rs 6007.609 million to local bodies against monthly OZT share and grant-in-aid.
The CM said that Sindh is the only province in the country that has released its budget in the first week of the new financial year, 2021-22. He stated this in a statement issued here from CM House on Monday.
Shah said the OctroiZila Tax (OZT) was abolished in the year 1999, and in lieu of abolished zilla tax, the federal government released funds through regular fiscal transfers at 2.5 percent of OZT.
“The share is low as compared to the municipal responsibilities of local councils,” he said and added, “upon abolishing of OZT by the federal government and low receipts being received by Sindh Province in lieu of OZT, Sindh government is continuously supporting all local councils in the province.”
The CM said that keeping in view its commitment to keep the Councils financially viable, the Sindh government has been releasing monthly OZT share to all local council in the province according to the PFC award held in 2007.
Subsequently, he said, as per tentative distribution approved by the government since 2016, which was, then, further enhanced at a rate of 15 percent during the financial year 2017-18.
According to the Chief Minister, the administrative structure of local councils in Sindh consists of seven District Municipal Corporations, twenty-four District Councils, one Metropolitan Corporation, three Municipal Corporations – Hyderabad, Sukkur and Larkano, 39 Municipal Committees, 147 Town Committees, and 1526 Union Councils / Union Committees.
He said the Sindh government, despite low receipts from the federal government, was consistently releasing sufficient funds to all local councils.
in order to cater their financial and operational needs against budgetary allocation of Rs.78 billion for the financial year 2020-21.
