PESHAWAR: The billions of rupees worth of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s share in the Public Sector Development Programme has lapsed during the last decade.

The figures obtained by Dawn from the KP planning and development under the KP Right to Information Act 2013 paint a bleak picture of the federal government’s flagship programme meant to provide resources for development programmes in the country, including KP.

According to them, around Rs60 billion allocated for KP under the PSDP lapsed between 2005 and 2015.

The province’s cumulative share in the PSDP for the period totaled Rs552 billion but the federal government’s releases came to Rs255 billion only, taking the amount of the deficit to Rs247 billion.

The PSDP expenditure in the province from 2005 and 2015 totaled Rs195 billion.

Officials say the centre should declare such money non-lapsable

The local officials blamed the poor utilisation of the PSDP funds in the province to a plethora of issues, mostly related to the federal government, which nearly stymied the programme in the province.

Many projects remained incomplete due to the lapse of funds.

The officials said once the PSDP funds lapsed, there was no way of the province claiming them and it was the reason for the KP requesting the federal government on many occasions to make such allocations non-lapsable.

They said the requests fell on deaf ears.

The officials said the PSDP share of KP for the current year 2015-16 stood at whopping Rs159 billion but Rs13 billion of it was released of which Rs2 billion was utilised.

“The KP percentage of releases against total allocations for the current year amounts to nine percent so far, while it is 15 per cent for Sindh, 30 per cent for Balochistan and 28 per cent for Punjab,” an official said.

The official said anyone could judge the fate of the programme from that figure, which was already in its third quarter.

The figures show the province’s share in the 2005-06 PSDP stood at Rs16 billion, while the total releases amounted to Rs12 billion. The actual expenditure during the year was just Rs5 billion.

In 2006-07, the KP share in the PSDP totaled Rs22 billion. Of the amount, Rs21 billion was released, while expenditure came to Rs5 billion.

Also in 2007-08, the province’s share in the programme was Rs25 billion, while the releases amounted to Rs22 billion and only Rs6 billion could be spent.

The 2008-09 it amounted to Rs27 billion, while the releases stood at Rs24 billion and expenditure improved up to Rs17 billion.

In 2009-10, the province’s share rose by more than half to touch Rs67 billion but the releases lagged behind with Rs21 billion. Of the amount, nearly half i.e. Rs11 billion was actually spent.

During 2010-11, the total PSDP allocations for the province again shrank to Rs32 billion. Of it, only Rs9 billion was released, which was entirely disbursed.

In 2011-12, the province’s share increased to Rs52 billion of which Rs30 billion was released and utilised.

In 2012-13, the province’s share stood at Rs93 billion, while the releases totaled to Rs20 billion, which was disbursed.

For the 2013-14, the total PSDP allocation for the province was Rs85 billion and the total releases stood at Rs45 billion, which was completely utilised.

In 2014-15, KP share of the programme was Rs83 billion but the releases came to Rs47 billion and Rs45 billion were spent.

He said most of the PSDP schemes were executed through the federal agencies and sometime delayed for years, while in other instances left incomplete.

The official proposed that in the aftermath of 18th amendment, the federal government should give this amount to provinces to be spent on development projects.

“If that is not possible, then at least the federal government should make this non-lapsable,” the official said.

He said the Chashma Right Bank Canal, with a total cost over Rs60 billion was only getting paltry allocations of Rs50 million each for some years and that at that pace, it was unlikely to see the light of the day in near future.

The official said the prolonged delay in the construction of the crucial PSDP project forced the provincial government to ask for its inclusion in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

He said the Khyber Institute of Child Health and burns and trauma centre in Hayatabad could not be completed over such issues.

Special assistant to KP chief minister for information Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani couldn’t be reached despite repeated attempts.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2016