ISLAMABAD: Struck by the intensity of protests mounted by the chief ministers of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, the federal government on Wednesday moved to assuage their moods.

A crucial press conference to respond to the grievances of the chief ministers was announced to be held on Wednesday, to be conducted by Ahsan Iqbal and Miftah Ismail, but was cancelled 30 minutes before its scheduled time.

According to a source in the Planning Commission, the reason was to give more time to talks that were continuing between the government and the chief ministers.

Revised allocations for expenditures under the development head were drawn up by the Planning Commission and are being shared with the provincial governments.

Some provincial projects have been included in the revised federal PSDP portfolio, while some federal projects have been vacated to create fiscal space within Rs1.030 trillion.

Federal Minister for Planning and Interior Ahsan Iqbal told Dawn that the government was ‘accommodating’ concerns of the provincial governments as we have been doing over the past four years.

“They should not have created a scene, politicised the national development plan and spoiled the cordial atmosphere that prevailed in the meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) just five minutes ahead of the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting,” he said.

Mr Iqbal said he was personally contacting the chief ministers individually to take them into confidence over the revised Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) documents being shared with the provinces by incorporating their recommendations.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had concerns over the allocation of grants for universities in Sindh and university allocations under High Education Commission have been increased, said Mr Iqbal. Likewise, a number of road projects from Balochistan had been added to the federal PSDP to address Balochistan CM Abdul Quddus Bizenjo’s concerns.

He said the fact was that the provinces were trying to load their annual development plan (ADP) related projects in the federal PSDP where space is limited to adequately finance national infrastructure development projects.

The problem with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa CM Pervaiz Khattak is that he is no longer in a position to actually present or pass the next year budget after Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf expelled 20 members of the provincial assembly recently over horse trading, Mr Iqbal said.

“The KP government has become a minority government”.

He said the provinces have also been told to understand that federal budget cannot be given for three months or so because revenue and taxation measures have to be in place for a fiscal year as business and international investors need to their make own projections with a sense of predictability.

Unlike this, the provincial government had the option to just approve supplementary budget for the year in progress and give expenditure details for the next year.

The government has now officially announced to release Pakistan Economic Survey (2017-18) on Thursday (April 26) and to present federal budget (2018-19) on Friday (April 27) and hold the post-budget media interaction on Saturday, (April 28, 2018).

According to a summary of revised PSDP allocations sent for printing,

cumulative size of the federal PSDP and provincial ADPs would remain unchanged at Rs2.043 trillion, including Rs1.030tr federal PSDP and Rs1.013tr provincial ADPs.

The core PSDP 2018-19 has been set at Rs825 billion including Rs175bn of foreign exchange component compared to Rs866bn of current year including FEC of Rs162bn. On top of that, Rs45bn each have been allocated for relief and rehabilitation of IDPs and Security Enhancement and Rs10bn for prime minister’s youth initiative and Rs5bn for gas infrastructure development. As such, total federal PSDP including special areas (AJK, GB and Fata) have been worked at Rs930bn.

Prime Minister’s Adviser on Finance and Revenue Miftah Ismail said the total PSDP to be funded through the budget would be Rs930bn.

The Planning Commission has indicated an amount of Rs100bn for public private partnership by National Highway Authority that would not be part of budget expenditure.

Documents suggest that new projects costing Rs835bn will be added in CPEC and its supporting projects during 2018-19.

Thirty one projects for development of Gwadar are part of the 2018-19 PSDP with an estimated cost of Rs137bn. Another Rs65bn have been earmarked for water sector, including Rs23bn for Diamir Bhasha Dam.

Most of the new projects in PSDP have been allocated at least 20 per cent of total cost in 2018-19 “for taking a felt start”. A major portion of next year development programme or about 63pc would be for ongoing projects while ministries and divisions and agencies would be required to process their PC-1s of un-approved projects for approval by August 31, 2018 for efficient use of allocated funds. Total number of projects in 2018-19 would be 1235 including 726 ongoing and 509 new schemes.

Infrastructure has been allocated Rs575bn including Rs80bn for power sector and Rs400bn for transport and communication, besides Rs65bn for water and Rs30bn for physical planning and housing.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2018