Rs 231bn earmarked just for development in election budget

With the election coming ahead and the fifth ensuing budget, the Sindh government earmarked a major chunk of funds worth Rs 231 billion (2012-13) against last year’s (2011-12) Rs 164 billion solely for the uplift works in the province.
While presenting the budget for the fiscal year 2012-13 at the Sindh Assembly on Monday, Finance Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said that at least Rs 181 billion had been allocated under the head of Annual Development Program (ADP) that included Rs 20 billion for defunct district government, Rs 35.7 billion for foreign-assisted projects and Rs 14.5 bn for federally-funded projects. The portfolio amicably tackles historical inter-district differential in development through judicious allocations. Substantial allocations (70% of ADP) have been made to complete the ongoing schemes. This strategy would help complete 700 schemes during the financial year 2012-13, he added.
The finance minister also talked about major initiatives for the next financial year 2012-13 that include: agriculture credit line for small farmers at 7% interest subsidy through Sindh Bank at Rs.4,000 million, micro finance for enterprise development through STEVTA and Sindh Bank at Rs 2000 million, provision of assistance to farmers for purchase of 15000 tractors at Rs 2800 million in addition to subsidy for 6000 tractors during current year, K4 and SIII projects, Karachi Circular Railway restoration/rehabilitation of LBOD and Kotri Drainage Network including activation of Dhoras, establishment of Multi Organ Transplant center at Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) Karachi at the cost of Rs.5000 million, establishment of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto International University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences main campus at Sakrand and campus at Larkana at Rs.3000 million, establishment of Drinking Water Hubs and rehabilitation of roads damaged during rains of 2011 and food grain storage project.
Terming education the foundation of every state, the finance minister said a massive allocation of Rs.111.96 billion including ADP of Rs.12.39 billion, has been proposed in the Financial Year 2012-13. This indicates a surge of 50 percent over allocations of current financial year and 164% jump over allocations of financial year 2007-08 (i.e. Rs.42.36 billion). The proposed development allocation is six times the allocation of Rs. 2.1 billion in 2007-08.
HEALTH: At least Rs.49.52 billion has been allocated for the next financial year (including ADP of Rs.14.80 billion). This is almost thrice the allocation of Rs.17 billion in Financial Year 2007-08. The proposed development spending is almost six times the allocation of Rs.1.4 billion in 2007-08.Overall, spending on Health constitutes approximately one tenth of total budgetary outlay. In the current Financial Year, pay package of Rs.485.00 million for Nursing Cadre, Midwifery, Lady Health Visitors, Student Nurses, Pupil Midwifery and Student LHVs has been announced.
The Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Medical College at Lyari has started MBBS classes in renovated building of Nursing School and work has been initiated on the new building, construction work of Ghulam Muhammad Mahar Medical College at Sukkur at a cost of Rs. 1.911 billion has been kicked off, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Accident, Emergency and Trauma Centre at Civil Hospital, Karachi is at the advanced stage of completion, dedicated units for Thalesemia, Burns, Urology and Cardiology have been established in all the Teaching Hospitals and also at Civil Hospital Mirpurkhas.
In new FY, the funds of Rs 1 billion have beenearmarked for the Chief Minister’s Initiative for the Prevention and Control of Hepatitis, Rs 500 mn for the extension of Services of SIUT and a Children’s hospital at SIUT Karachi at the cost of Rs. 200 million, Rs. 2 billion as grant-in-aid for SIUT etc.
AGRICULTURE: A significant allocation of Rs.13.69 billion has been made for the fiscal year 2012-13 which includes ADP of Rs. 10.9 billion. Compared to 2007-08 (Rs. 3.25 billion), the proposed development funding is almost 350% higher.
IRRIGATION & DRAINAGE: At least Rs. 7.5 billion has been earmarked for the Water and Drainage sector in 2012-13. The schemes for 2012-13 include rehabilitation of LBOD and Kotri Drainage Network (Phase II) at Rs 3 billion, raising, re-sectioning and Stone-Pitching along Rohri Main Canal, BS Feeder, Unhar Canal and Begari Canal at the cost of Rs. 100 million and the construction of Detention Weirs near Memon Goth Across Malir Nadi. The Sindh Flood Emergency Reconstruction Project for Bunds & Canals at a cost of Rs. 400 million and Rs. 200 million allocated for the Procurement of Machinery under Chinese loan.
THAR COAL & ENERGY: The funds of Rs 13.585 billion has been earmarked for the next financial year with power generation of at least 4000 MW by 2015-16. An MoU was signed between the Government of Sindh and Global Mining Company (GMC) of China in September 2011. The power generation is expected to commence by 2014. GMC intends to invest US $ 1.5 billion on key infrastructure projects in Thar coalfield. A test burn at Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) project in another block of Thar, being spearheaded by Dr Samar Mubarakmand, was successfully performed in December 2011.
The major schemes and infrastructure projects for 2012-13 are: Rs. 654 million for Construction of Islamkot Airstrip, Development of GIS for Thar Coalfield Installation of Reverse Osmosis Plants across District Tharparkar, Mithi and Islamkot, Improvement and Widening of road network from Karachi seaport to Thar, Improvement of road from Wango More to Thar coalfield and Water Carrier from Nabisar to Thar coalfield with a capital outlay of Rs. 5 billion. The Karachi Circular Railway: The US$ 1.55 billion KCR project has been slightly delayed on account of debt issues, removal of encroachments and allocation of land for resettlement, which have now been settled. The KCR will have a 43.12-km dual track with 24 stations at an average distance of 1.5 km. It will be completed by the end of 2016 and will be operational in 2017. The Government is also planning to undertake the Bus Rapid Transit for Karachi in PPP mode.
MPA Priority Program: The allocation for MPA priority Programme has been proposed to be enhanced to Rs. 60 million for each MPA. This compares fairly well with the allocation of Rs. 5 million for MPAs in FY 2007-08.