PESHAWAR: Due to political instability and large-scale upheaval in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the use of development funds has become stagnant, hindering the utilization of the developmental budget in the province.
According to the finance ministry, out of a total development budget of more than Rs546 billion, Rs188.10 billion was released, of which Rs105.19 billion has been spent so far. According to available official data, the total development budget for the settled districts was kept at more than Rs407 billion, against which Rs144 billion was released, while more than Rs79 billion could be spent so far.
Despite the release of about 48% of the Rs 10.5 billion allocated for the agricultural sector, only about Rs 2.3 billion could be spent. There was also a significant decrease in the funds given to the Department of Endowment and Religious Affairs, while the expenditure in the Board of Revenue, Building, and Environmental sectors was very low.
There was a partial improvement in the budget allocated for clean drinking water and sanitation; however, expenditure in important social sectors such as primary and secondary education, energy, sanitation, and health remained limited compared to the release.
Despite the allocation of more than Rs 34 billion for the health sector, the expenditure was slightly more than Rs 6 billion. The departments of higher education, housing, information industry, labor, and law and justice could not use the funds to their full potential.
Similarly, the development pace was also maintained in the departments of forests, livestock, local government, minerals, multi-sector development, population welfare, and social welfare. The largest development sector, R&D, was allocated Rs 87 billion. Despite the T, the expenditure was limited to Rs 19 billion.
The situation was no different in the projects of Sports and Youth Affairs, Science and IT, Tourism and Culture, Transport, Urban Development, and Water Resources 4, while not a single penny was released in the amount allocated for local governments.
The situation is more worrying in the merged districts, where only Rs 44 billion was released against the development budget of Rs 139 billion, and out of this, only Rs 26 billion could be spent. The Rs 42 billion allocated for unfunded projects of other provinces under NFC has been limited to allocation only.
There has been some progress in the sectors of agriculture, education, health, home, roads, and multi-sector development; however, many of them, including excise, finance, mines, local government, and tehsil ADP, have remained almost inactive.
According to the data, the health, higher education, law and justice, and roads sectors in the merged districts performed relatively well, but serious administrative and financial obstacles persisted in achieving overall development goals.
