KARACHI: Actual expenditure incurred by Sindh government in development sector grew by an average of nearly 17% during last five years, according to an official document published by Sindh’s Finance Ministry. This growth was described as quite significant and spelled out provincial government’s active engagement in development activities, said the ministry.
Compared to this, growth in Annual Development Plan (ADP) was just 4.21pc. Non-development portfolio of the province too saw an average growth of around 13pc during five years, it said.
Major categories of Sindh’s Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) spending plan for 2016-17 show its development outlay equals Rs265.9 billion, significantly higher than previous year’s Rs175.55bn. Provincial ADP for current fiscal year is Rs225bn against last year’s Rs142bn. Total outlay included Rs28.8 billion as external/ donor assisted component and Rs12.1bn for federal projects.
Thar Coal Infrastructure Development is inducted separately in development plan. Besides, Rs50.3bn were allocated for Karachi’s projects. Similarly, ADP allocation of Rs53.5bn were made for Hyderabad, Rs22.7bn for Sukkur, Rs27.3bn for Larkana, Rs26.9bn for Mirpurkhas and Rs18.9bn for Benazirabad Division.
Under non-development portfolio, current revenue expenditure was pitched at Rs572bn for current fiscal year, which equals 13.9pc increase over revised estimates of last fiscal year.
The document said a typical growth of 11.4pc was recorded in actual expenditure during 2010-11 to 2014-15. During 2016-17, there was a ‘significant’ increase in allocations for some smaller departments, which perform important social welfare functions but generally get smaller allocations. These departments include Social Welfare, Special Education, Sports and Youth Affairs, Women Development and Minorities’ Affairs.
‘This financial year, Rs4bn were provided for road repairs in all districts. Similarly, Rs401m was spent on repair and maintenance of major teaching hospitals and Rs9.58bn on other government buildings.
Finance Ministry said it had been spending major portion of government’s budget on five priority sectors — health, education, road infrastructure, irrigation and transport.
