The government has proposed an amount of Rs. 2.2 trillion for 160 new schemes in next year’s federal development plan.
Although some projects are necessary, many new projects have been proposed as a prelude to the electoral campaign and stem from the incumbent set-up’s political needs.
The new schemes include an unapproved Dera Ismail Khan Package of Rs. 57 billion and projects in the Larkana district – the two territories belonging to the political heads of the allied parties. Many new feasibility studies for roads have been added, which at this time could have been postponed due to a lack of fiscal muscle.
The government added the Rs. 5 billion unapproved Youth Laptop Scheme project but proposed only Rs. 1 billion for the next fiscal year. The project seems to be have been included for next year’s election campaign.
Over 1,100 projects worth Rs. 6.4 trillion have been included in the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) 2022-23. Against these schemes, an allocation of Rs. 800 billion has been proposed, although the Ministry of Finance has not yet fully committed the money.
The details further showed that at this stage about 160 new projects are proposed for inclusion in the PSDP, having a total cost of Rs. 2.2 trillion. But the government has allocated only Rs. 85 billion for these schemes to carry out work in the next fiscal year, which is hardly 4 percent of their total cost. Many schemes will take a longer time for completion, but their inclusion has further thinned out the scarce resources.
Similarly, a major addition had been made to the portfolio of the National Highway Authority (NHA). The government proposed including 62 new schemes in the NHA portfolio costing Rs. 903 billion. But Rs. 36 billion had been proposed for the new schemes, less than 4 percent of the total cost.
The new schemes included five projects with a value of Rs. 387 billion that would be completed through public-private partnership (PPP). But the government made only Rs. 8.6 billion allocations against these five projects. For the Rs. 191.4 billion worth Hyderabad-Sukkur motorway, an Rs. 4 billion allocation was proposed at this stage for the next fiscal year. The Kharian-Rawalpindi motorway project is worth Rs. 96 billion was also included, and Rs. 4 billion was allocated for the next fiscal year.
For Rs. 40 billion Layari elevated freight corridor, only Rs. 300 million was proposed for the next fiscal year. Without furnishing any details, the Rs. 57 billion Dera Ismail Khan Improvement Package was added to the PSDP but with only Rs. 2 billion allocation for the next fiscal year.
The 2016 approved bridge at Indus River, Larkana, had also been revived but only Rs. 500 million was proposed for the next fiscal year.
Despite the lack of resources, the government proposed 11 new schemes for the Higher Education Commission (HEC) that would require Rs. 18 billion more resources. But the actual allocation for the new schemes was only Rs. 3.1 billion. The Rs. 5 billion PM Youth Laptop scheme had also been made part of the PSDP.
Announced by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during his recent visit, the Rs. 2.5 billion University of Gwadar scheme was added, but it had been allocated a mere Rs. 350 million for the next fiscal year.
The Rs. 1.1 trillion Mainline-I (ML1) project of the CPEC was included as a new scheme for the next fiscal year with a meager allocation of Rs. 5 billion.
The government also proposed Rs. 10 billion worth of Rawat-Faizabad Metro Bus with Rs. 1 billion allocation and Bhara-Kau-Faizabad Metro Bus, which would also cost Rs. 10 billion. However, it only allocated Rs. 500 million in the next year’s PSDP. Interestingly, no studies were conducted before their inclusion.
A sum of Rs. 60 billion was also separately allocated for parliamentarians’ schemes.
In a sheer wastage of resources, the federal government also included the Locust Emergency and Food Security Project in the PSDP – a new scheme that would cost Rs. 32 billion. An allocation of Rs. 1 billion was made for the next fiscal year.
