PESHAWAR, Jun 18 (APP):Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has earmarked an amount of Rs. 317 billion for development in its annual budget of Rs. 1118 billion presented on Friday for upcoming fiscal year 21-22.
According to budget document the Annual Development Programme (ADP) for new budget is increased by 10.4 percent.
In the outgoing fiscal year the ADP volume was Rs. 318 billion which has been increased by Rs. 53 billion to Rs. 371 billion.
Out of the total outlay of Rs. 371 billion ADP, Rs. 100.3 billion will be spent on development schemes in Newly Merged Districts of the province.
Remaining amount Rs. 270.7 billion will be spent in remaining districts of the province, adds the statement.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has made maximum increase in its developmental budget as compared to other provinces, claims Finance Minister, Salim Jhagra.
To elaborate his view point, Finance Minister said development budget in Sind has shown an increase of 22 percent, Punjab 21 percent and 33 percent in KP.
The development spending in KP has been increased by more than six times from the spending being made a decade ago, he added.
In six sectors development budget has been increased which included Information Technology (188%), Sport, Culture, Tourism (271%), Agriculture (135%), Higher Education (140%), Health (35%) and Social Welfare (133%).
The prominent developmental projects planned for Merged Districts included in the next fiscal included establishment of Mohmand Marble City, Bajaur Sports Complex, Industrial Zone at Bara (Khyber Agency), Kurram Tangi Dam, Construction of Bara Dam, setting up of Satellite Towns in Bajaur, Mohmand, Khyber and North Waziristan.
An amount of Rs. 48.2 billion has been reserved for construction of 3000 km of roads in the province. These projects include Peshawar-D.I.Khan Motorway, Peshawar Northern By-pass, Circular By-pass road Bannu, Swat Motorway Phase 2, Dir-Chakdara Motorway, Tall-Mir Ali road North Waziristan, Haripur By-pass road, Bannu Ghulam Khan road and Peshawar-Torkham Motorway.
More than 40 percent of the current budget is allocated to Education and Health Sectors while the government is spending Rs. 500 billion in development plus spending.
In the budget an amount of Rs. 10.4 billion has been earmarked for spending on district development as the province is committed to reduce regional disparity.
Similarly, an amount of Rs. 10 billion would be spent through Bank of Khyber as Economic Stimulus Package. This amount would be given to small and medium size enterprises, entrepreneurs and youth.
While sharing highlights of the budget Finance Minister said it includes increase in provincial own source receipts by 45% in first 11 months of the year, from Rs. 32.9 billion to Rs. 47.8 billion, Sehat Card Plus rolled out to every citizen of the province with the allocation of Rs. 10 billion, Operationalization of Peshawar Institute of Cardiology, new OPD block at Khyber Teaching Hospital etc.