Staff Reporter Islamabad
Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar has said the total spending under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) in the year 2020-21 exceeded the target set for the corresponding year by Rs9 billion to Rs659 billion.
In a tweet on Tuesday, the planning minister said, “Total PSDP spending in 2020-21 was Rs659 bil-lion vs a target of Rs650 billion or 101.4%.” He said this has been the highest development funds utilisa-tion since 2011-12.
“In a year of Covid restrictions, this exceptionally high development spending reflects the resolve of Prime Minister Imran Khan to accelerate growth,” he added.
According to the data released by the Planning Commission, the released funds included Rs425.70 billion for federal ministries, Rs166.68 billion for corporations, Rs37.06 billion for special areas, and Rs1.5 billion for the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority.
Similarly, Rs118.67 billion were released for the National Highway Authority, Rs51.24 billion for the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC), and Rs71 billion of the Rs79.38 billion were released for t he Water Resources Division.
Likewise, Rs28.12 billion of the allocated fund of Rs22.49 billion were disbursed to the Higher Educa-tion Commission, Rs323.70 million of the Rs323 million to the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Author-ity.
The Railways Division received development funds of Rs10.87 billion, Interior Division Rs10.37 bil-lion, and the National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination Division received Rs11.24 billion. Similarly, the Revenue Division got Rs8.96 billion, and the Cabinet Division Rs24.11 billion.
The gov-ernment also released Rs23.4 billion of the PSDP allocations of Rs24.5 billion for the development projects in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Rs13.7 billion of Rs15 billion for Gilgit-Baltistan projects.
