Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of Pakistan will get a total of Rs3.55 billion in the fiscal year 2023-24 compared to Rs3 billion in the outgoing year, registering an increase of 16 per cent.

But the allocations for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) have been fixed at Rs7.78 billion though it spent a hefty amount of Rs27 billion in the current financial year.

The budget documents also showed that the Islamabad High Court had been allocated Rs1.5 billion compared to Rs1 billion in the fiscal year 2022-23.

The budgetary allocation for the Supreme Court was initially fixed at Rs3.09 billion last year but the top court could spend only Rs3.054 billion, saving an amount of Rs36.9 million.

With 2023 likely to be the election year, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has insisted that the budget for the fiscal year 2023-24 should not be considered as an ‘election budget’. A number of heads that had been introduced last year have received allocations this time too. Among them are the Rawal Lake water treatment plant, ongoing projects in Islamabad and metro bus. The Higher Education Commission, on the other hand, saw a substantial increase in its budget, whereas the climate change division got a paltry amount considering the ongoing weather crisis.

Of the budgetary estimate of Rs3.55 billion for the year 2023-24, the major junk will go for the employees related expenses which stand at Rs2.8 billion.

Likewise, Rs1.27 billion will be spent on the employees related expenses of the Islamabad High Court.

Scientific research

The federal government allocated Rs8 billion for scientific research in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2023-24.

According to budgetary documents issued on Friday, Rs5.5 billion was earmarked for 31 ongoing schemes of the Ministry of Science and Technology, while another Rs2.5 billion was allocated for six new schemes. About Rs290.8 million has been earmarked for establishment of facilities for industrial production of nano-materials in Latif Ebrahim Jamal Nanotechnology Centre (Knowledge Economy Initiative), Rs200 million each for Research, Development and Innovation Programme in Pakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) and another Rs190 million for Competitive Research Programme. Rs600 million has been set aside for seed production.

A total of Rs400 million has been earmarked for Research, Development and Technology Transfer of Selected Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients for Import Substitution (PCSIR), Rs300 million for establishment of Mineral Resource Centre in Balochistan for Product Design, Development and Value Addition to Enhance Export and Rs200 million for establishment of Khuzdar Science and Technology Block in Quetta.

Rural areas uplift

The federal government has allocated Rs2.2 billion for the ongoing Islamabad Development Package for fiscal year 2023-24, focusing on development of rural areas of Islamabad.

According to the budgetary document, Rs2200 million has been earmarked for an ongoing scheme namely Islamabad Development Package. Under this project, development work will be carried out in various rural union councils of Islamabad.

The development projects include sanitation and road projects, street pavement, rehabilitation of roads, water supply schemes and so on.

The total cost of the project is Rs9.4 billion and out of the total, Rs4,856 million is estimated expenditure up to June 30 this year.

It is relevant to note here, besides, this ongoing development package, the federal government through Capital Development Authority (CDA) has already decided to launch development work in rural areas worth Rs10 billion.

In the first phase, the CDA will award works worth over Rs2.5 billion and recently tenders have also been opened in this regard. According to CDA officials, contractors will be issued orders soon.

Rawal Lake

For fiscal year 2023-24, the federal government has allocated Rs255 million for the Rawal Lake water treatment project.

According to a budgetary document, total cost of the project titled Korang River and Rawal Lake water treatment plant is now Rs6 billion. In last year’s budget, the total cost of the project was set at Rs3.9 billion.

Under the said project, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) is supposed to install three sewage treatment plants (STPs) in Rawal dam’s catchment area to stop the flow of contaminated water into the reservoir.

Plants are to be built in lower Shahdara, Bari Imam and near Banigala.

It may be pointed out here that whenever this project is started, it would require 14 months to complete and will treat 9.6 million gallons of water daily.

Earlier, in 2021, the CDA had called bids, which were opened in July last year, but the contract could not be awarded within the stipulated time due to technical reasons.

HEC

The budget of Higher Education Commission (HEC) saw a significant increase as for fiscal year 2023-24, the government has allocated Rs136 billion for development and non development expenditure of the higher education sector against the outgoing fiscal year budget of Rs110 billion.

For financial year 2023-24, the government has earmarked Rs59.7 billion for 138 ongoing and 28 new development schemes. Furthermore, Rs10 billion has been allocated for the Prime Minister’s Laptop scheme.

Whereas, Rs66.3 billion has been allocated for non development budget (recurring grant for salaries, pensions etc,) for HEC.

According to documents, for upcoming financial year, Rs69 million has been allocated for 28 new development schemes.

In new schemes, major allocations of Rs1,200 million has been made for strengthening lab facilities in five leading engineering universities of the country whereas Rs500 million has been allocated for provision of higher education facilities for students of erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Balochistan.

Similarly, Rs500 million has been allocated for establishment of a sports institute.

Metro bus

The federal government has allocated Rs29 million in budget 2023-24 for conducting feasibility study to start new metro bus routes from Bhara Kahu to Faizabad and Faizabad to Rawat.

Currently, Metro bus service runs from Bhara Kahu to Pims and from Koral to Pims under temporary arrangements in normal traffic. However, government wants to start proper metro bus service on above-mentioned routes with dedicated corridors.

For this purpose, a project worth Rs278 million has been finalised for feasibility and for financial year 2023-24, Rs29 million has been earmarked for Capital Development Authority through the interior ministry in new schemes category.

According to CDA, after feasibility study it will construct proper and designated corridors for metro bus service on the two routes like Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus Service.

Currently, the CDA is operating a 10 buses fleet for each route in normal traffic from Bhara Kahu to Pims and from Koral to Pims.

Meanwhile, in ongoing projects, the government has allocated Rs268 million for metro bus operation management system (phase-II) for new Islamabad International Airport.

Climate change

The government has allocated Rs4.05 billion for three ongoing projects and only one new scheme of the Ministry of Climate Change Division.

According to the budgetary documents, the government allocated Rs100 million for Pakistan’s biosafety clearing house for genetically modified organisms (GMO).

However, a little over Rs3.9 billion were set aside for the upscaling of Green Pakistan Programme and Rs26 million for capacity building on water quality monitoring and Sustainable Development Goal (SGDs). For its ‘Climate Resilient Urban Human Settlements’ project, the government earmarked another Rs20 million.

In his budget speech in parliament, Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar said the government had approved the implementation of policy frameworks, including Resilient, Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Framework (4RFs) and Environment, Exports, E-Pakistan, Equity and Empowerment (5Es) to ensure the country’s resilience and preparedness against natural calamities.

The minister said the implementation of the policies was made in order to mitigate the impacts of climate change and natural disasters given under the country’s 4RFs framework, including on climate change, energy, infrastructure, and 5Es.

10th Avenue, Sihala flyover projects

A meagre amount has been allocated for the ongoing 10th Avenue and Sihala flyover projects in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).

According to budgetary documents, Rs400 million have been earmarked for 10th Avenue, a project worth Rs12 billion. For the Sihala flyover, Rs405 million have been set aside. This project needs Rs9.5 billion for completion.

Both the projects were started last year. Currently, 10th Avenue project is stalled because of the funding issue. However, recently, the Ministry of Interior assured the CDA that it will be provided Rs1.4 billion before the end of the outgoing fiscal year.

Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2023