AS surging debt is eating up almost half of the resources, the development programme has been compromised in the new budget as it gets reduced allocations and no worthwhile new project is proposed to be initiated during next year. The budget envisages Rs 3,675 billion for national development programme — Federal PSDP Rs 1,000 billion; provincial development programme Rs 2,224 billion and an investment of Rs. 451 billion by State-owned Enterprises (SOEs). Sixty percent of the Federal PSDP will go to key sectors like transport and communication; water resources and energy while the remaining allocations would be shared by IT; Science and Technology; agriculture; health and education.
Call it bad planning or lack of vision, there seems to be no logical priority in allocating resources for development projects. This is evident from the fact that meagre allocation of Rs. 2 billion have been made for the crucially important project of Thar Coal Connectivity that aims to link local energy resources with the national rail and road network. Allocations for key hydropower projects of Dassu, Diamer-Bhasha, Mohmand and Tarbela Extension are also nominal, which means further delay in their completion and resultantly cost escalation. As for physical planning and housing, it is appreciable that the Government has allocated Rs. 54.6 billion for construction of 150,000 low-cost and climate resistant housing units at federal and provincial levels.
Digital Master Plans will be prepared for ten major cities, which will, hopefully, go a long way in ensuring planned development and improvement of civic amenities for their residents. As part of industrial research and development, industrial designing and automation centres will be set up in Karachi, Lahore and Sialkot besides establishment of a support centre for dental and surgical instruments. Another important project envisages establishment of a Special Economic Zone on 6,860 acres of land of the Pakistan Steel Mills. The Government is also focusing on oil and gas exploration and for the first time after twenty years licenses for 24 offshore blocks have been allotted to local and foreign oil and gas exploration companies. It is important to note that investment in exploration and production is expected to cross $ 1 billion mark during the outgoing year. The health sector gets Rs. 25.1 billion for developmental activities including expansion of tertiary healthcare, emergency and critical care and provision of modern facilities for diagnosis and treatment of cancer and other fatal diseases. In a welcome development, higher education has been allocated Rs. 46 billion for the next financial year, which is a significant increase as compared to Rs. 34.9 during the outgoing year.
The plans and programmes for the sector envisage increased scholarships for deserving students; boosting research capability of universities; upgradation of Pakistan Education and Research Network and promotion of digital learning. Allocations for school and college education have been set at Rs. 26.3 billion for programmes like teachers’ training; an increase in enrolment; extension of childhood education and digital learning. Less developed areas and regions have received special attention in the allocation of funds for the next year. Azad Kashmir will get Rs. 45 billion; Gilgit-Baltistan Rs. 44 billion and merged districts of KP Rs. 56 billion for developmental activities besides Rs. 5 billion for AJK and Rs. 4 billion for GB under Prime Minister’s special package for these regions. The Government also intends to expand the coverage of flagship initiatives of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and with this in view its allocations have been increased to Rs. 838 billion. Its Kafalat programme will be expanded to cover 12 million families and educational stipends will benefit 9.2 million children. No doubt, overall allocations for developmental activities are modest but together with provincial programmes, these have the potential to accelerate the pace of socio-economic development if the money is utilized judiciously and in a transparent manner.
