Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch has said his government will convene a donors and investors conference to attract investment in minerals sector of the province.
He was speaking at the post-budget briefing at Chief Minister’s House on Friday.
Provincial Minister and Parliamentary Leader of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party Abdul Rahim Ziaratwal, Provincial Minister Nawab Muhammad Khan Shahwani, Chief Secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad, Finance Secretary Dostain Jamaldini, Home Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani and other senior officials were present.
Baloch said, “We have no capacity to run project related to mineral sector, therefore, we decided to hire international and national standard consultancy besides arranging donors and investor conference to attract investment in mineral sector to boost the economy of the province.”
He said a conference of non-governmental organisations would also be called in Quetta to dispel the impression that there was no suitable environment for investment in Balochistan.
“The poverty and backwardness of our province need support and financial investment to improve our human resources,” he said.
To a question, he said ongoing development schemes would probe into to ascertain their validity.
“The rules and regulations make it mandatory to design uplift schemes that are completed within five years,” provincial minister Ziaratwal said and revealed that previous government also launched 13-year long development schemes. Ziaratwal added that although such schemes were inducted in Balochistan Financial Budget 2013-14, however, some schemes might be terminated after inquiry.
Dr Abdul Malik said Balochistan Fiscal Budget 2013-14 had no specific allocations for MPAs.
“Now MPAs’ fund would be utilised through departmental process and it would be spent where a government department point out its need like that construction of rooms for schools,” he said.
The chief minister said the total volume of Balochistan Budget for 2013-14 was Rs 198.395 billion including Rs 117.348 billion for ongoing expenditure, Rs 37.134 billion for investment expenditure, and Rs 43.913 billion for development expenditure.
He said total receipts would be Rs 190.453 billion, including Rs 161.398 billion for ongoing receipts, over Rs 29 billion for investment receipts and Rs 3.981 billion for foreign aid.
The chief minister said the size of Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) was Rs 43.913 billion, adding that the new budget had a deficit of Rs 7.942 billion.
To a query, he said adequate funds had been allocated for Reko Diq, Sandak and other mineral related projects.
“We will take decisions on minerals projects keeping in view interests of people of Balochistan,” he said.
Baloch said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was giving special priority to solve issues of Balochistan by providing maximum financial support to the province.
He said that was true that corruption had become the culture in government administration.
“Rome was not built in a day, so curbing corruption would take some time,” he said.
He said that over Rs 1.50 billion were earmarked in new budget for preserving rainwater, provision of potable water and for irrigation sector.
The chief minister said an inspection team would inquire into the allegations of embezzlement of funds provided for repairing of pat feeder and other canals that suffered damages in flash floods.
He said that allocation of over Rs 2.19 billion were made for energy sector to generate electricity from coal, solar and hydel projects.
