ISLAMABAD:The Senate Standing Committee on Thursday directed the authorities concerned to complete the ongoing development projects under Public Sector Development Programme in time to save national exchequer from extra burden.
Presiding over the meeting of the committee, Chairman Ata ur Rehman also directed to do effective planning for the development of under developed areas of the country.
He said the committee unanimously recommends including all the recommendations of the committee members in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 20 most under developed districts of the country.
Rehman also recommends to take the parliamentarians on board in the development schemes of their respective areas to enable them identifying more development projects in their areas.
Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal on the occasion said when the PML-N government left the charge in 2018, the PSDP allocation was Rs1000 billion, while in the year 2021-22, an allocation of Rs 900 billion was made but the government could manage to spend only Rs 550 billion due to fiscal constraints.
That was the reason, he said, the coalition government had to allocate only Rs 800 billion for the upcoming fiscal year.
He said, in order to meet the country’s expenditures; the government would have to take further loans to avoid big loans. The government has no option but to take tough decisions.
The meeting was informed that in the outgoing fiscal year, 2021-22, the previous government had allocated Rs 900 billion, however, only Rs 550 billion could be spent on the development projects due to fiscal constraints during the year.
The meeting was also informed that from the federal and provincial departments, various schemes worth of Rs. 1.3 trillion were prepared but the concerned divisions were directed to send the schemes according to the given budget.
The officials of Planning Ministry informed the meeting that the Balochistan province received the largest share in the PSDP.
Senator Muhammad Shafiq Tarin pointed out that the Pakhtun areas of the province were neglected again as not a single scheme of the National Food Security was given to the Pakhtun Areas.
He said only nine percent of total water related schemes were given to the Pakhtun areas, and out of 30 schemes fixed for the special areas, only four schemes were given to the Pakhtun areas.
The meeting was informed that normally, the 80% of total development budget is fixed for the ongoing schemes while the rest 20% goes to the new schemes, however, after collective consultation in the National Economic Council, it has been decided to fix the share at 60:40 for the year 2022-23.
The meeting was also attended by Senators Syed Shibli Faraz and Nuzhat Sadiq.