LAHORE: The Punjab government has earmarked Rs550 billion for the Annual Development Programme (ADP) for 2016-17, which is 37 per cent higher than the allocation of Rs400bn for the outgoing fiscal year.

Under ADP 2016-17, the government has allocated 31pc for the social sector followed by infrastructure development 29pc, services sector 20pc, special initiatives/programme and production sector 9pc each and others 2pc.

Of the Rs550bn, total ADP estimates are Rs471.485bn while Rs78.515bn has been set aside for other development programmes.

The government has earmarked Rs100bn for the Khadim-i-Punjab Kissan Package for the next two years to revive the agriculture sector. These funds will be spent on the welfare of farmers, agricultural development to increase per acre yield.

More than Rs168bn has been allocated to the social sector with major focus on education Rs73bn (13pc), health Rs44bn (8pc) and clean drinking water Rs45bn (8pc).

An amount of Rs11.13bn has been earmarked for Safe City project in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Multan, Faisalabad and Bahawalpur.

Under infrastructure development sector, the maximum chunk of Rs79bn has been given to roads, followed by Rs41bn for irrigation and Rs17bn for urban development. Under the service sector, Rs92.273bn has been reserved for transport and mass transit.

Other major development projects are Lahore Orange Line Metro Train Project with Rs85bn allocations, School Strengthening Pro­gra­­mme (Rs50bn), Saaf Pani Programme (Rs30bn), Rural Roads Programme (Rs27bn), rehabilitation of urban and rural water supply and sewage system (Rs14.37bn), good governance initiatives and IT (Rs14bn), District/TMA Development Programme (Rs15bn) and industries (Rs12.6bn).

Similarly, Rs9bn has been allocated for energy sector to overcome power outages, and Rs6.5bn for skills development programme.

As per the major initiatives of the government in collaboration with the international agencies for the FY17, the World Bank-funded programme of $100 million will create market-based jobs in Punjab to support the targets set in Punjab Growth Strategy 2018.

Under the skills development programme, Department for International Development of the UK will provide 38.4m pounds for five years with the Punjab government’s share of 89.1m pounds to impart vocational skills to 330,000 poor and vulnerable people (40pc women).

Under Punjab skills development project, an estimated 70,000 trainees will directly benefit from the project, of which at least 15pc will be females.

Other foreign-funded projects are Punjab Agriculture and Rural Transf­ormation Project, Punjab Education Support Project III (WB will provide $300m in five years), Transformation of Irrigation Department to Water Res­ource Department and Punjab Cultural and Heritage Tourism Promotion Project. An allocation of 80pc of the total budget outlay broadly addresses 14 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Meanwhile, the government says the financial utilisation and subsequently the implementation of development portfolio have been consistently increasing over the past years and financial utilisation of current ADP is expected to be over Rs300bn. However during the first 11 months (July to May) of the current fiscal year, only Rs250bn was utilised against the release of around Rs365bn, informed sources in the Punjab government said.

They noted that the development spending on the social sector is usually diverted to sectors like transport and infrastructure, which are priority areas of the PML-N government.

A budget document claims the block allocations have declined in recent years which indicate the planning of high-priority projects has improved and these can be financed and reviewed under ADP.

SCHEMES COMPLETED IN FY16: The government allocated 53pc of the total development budget to ongoing projects. About 1,700 schemes are expected to be completed by the end of current fiscal.

The major schemes which were completed during the current fiscal year are Khadim-e-Punjab Rural Road Programme Phase I and II (roads of 3,500 kilometres were rehabilitated); the rehabilitation and modernisation of Jinnah Barrage with Rs12.7bn; up-gradation of 6,558 water courses; reconstruction of 2,568 dilapidated school buildings and establishment of 23 new colleges; establishment of database of 4.6m livestock farmers for extension services; up-gradation of operation theatres, intensive care units and several medical departments besides modern equipment to selected tertiary hospitals; provision of skill training to 145,000 youth of South Punjab with a total cost of Rs8.16bn; completion of land records management and information system (Phase-I) with a total cost of Rs12.26bn; and establishment of Punjab Social Protection Authority.

Other schemes are installation of solar panels at more than 50 government offices.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2016